Lausanne, Switzerland, February 12, 2019 – Just months after he split with Alison Cerutti, Olympic champion Bruno Schmidt has paired up with reigning FIVB world champion Evandro Goncalves for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualification period, which also includes the Hamburg 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
The pair have also confirmed that they will play in the next 4-star event on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, the Katara Open in Doha which will take place from March 12-16. Hamburg 2019 runs from June 28-July 7.
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Globoesporte.com reports that the pair will begin training next week at the national centre in Rio de Janeiro under the guidance of Ednilson Costa who has been Evandro’s coach since 2012.
“The invitation arrived this weekend and playing with Evandro is a good opportunity,” Bruno told Globoesporte.com. “I have seen the athlete he has become, the titles he has won and the respect everyone has for him, here and abroad.
“We have everything to make us a very competitive team and we have an important year ahead of us. We will try to arm ourselves to be as competitive as possible on the World Tour and work as hard as possible to make it happen.”
Bruno and Alison celebrate their victory at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Bruno’s most recent partner was Pedro Solberg, who he had been playing with since May 2018. Before then the 32-year-old Bruno had won the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games and the Netherlands 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships gold alongside Alison.
Evandro also featured at Rio 2016 where he played with Pedro. They split at the end of 2016 and he teamed up with Andre Stein with whom he won gold at the Austria 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Evandro and Andre and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship trophy in 2017
However, Bruno’s decision to play alongside Pedro resulted in Andre going to play with Alison, while Evandro returned to his former partner Vitor Felipe. And now the teams have changed again.
National Olympic Committees can send a maximum of two teams per gender to an Olympic Games.
“I'm extremely happy to have the opportunity to play alongside Bruno. It will be an honour for me,” Evandro said. “But I am aware of the responsibility of having an Olympic champion as my partner. We already have in mind our first objective, which is to qualify for the Olympic Games and we will give it our all to ensure we qualify.”