Spanish player Amaranta Navarro has been named as a replacement player for the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, joining two-time Olympian Elsa Baquerizo in Spain’s only pair for the tournament. Navarro replaces Angela Lobato, who sprained her ankle at a mid-July European Tour event in Turkey.
Like Lobato, the player she’s replacing, this will be Navarro’s first World Championship event. Baquerizo and Lobato were a relatively new pairing, having only formed after Rio.
The pair will be relying on Baquerizo’s experience as a four-time participant in Vienna when action starts on Friday. They enter the tournament as 23rd seeds, and will play in Pool B in the opening round:
Pool B participants:
- Laboureur/Sude (Germany) – 2nd seed
- Elsa/Amaranta (Spain) – 23rd seed
- Lidy/Leila (Cuba) – 26th seed
- Andrea/Gorda (Colombia) – 47th seed
Since Lobato’s injury, Navarro and Baquerizo have played together in two FIVB World Tour events. In both the Gstaad major and last week’s Olsztyn four-star, they finished in 25th place (earning $3,000 each). Baquerizo also tried a tournament with Paula Sora on the CEV tour from July 13th-16th, finishing 5th, but opted to play with Navarro in Vienna.
Baquerizo and then-partner Liliana Fernandez finished 7th at last year’s FIVB World Tour, amassing $76,250 each in FIVB earnings alone. Baqueriza and Fernandez lost in the round of 16 at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.
Navarro will turn 34 in August, while Baquerizo is 30.
Leave a Reply