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Rossi

Italian Enrico Rossi and partner Adrian Carambula will be the top seeds in the men's tournament in Agadir

After stops in North and South America, Europe and Asia, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour will set foot on the African continent next with the Moroccan city of Agadir set to welcome a Challenge event from July 21 to 24.

Agadir will be the first city to host a Beach Pro Tour event on the continent with this week’s event to be played between Thursday and Sunday. Additional Beach Pro Tour events in Africa are scheduled to take place in Egypt and South Africa, later in the season.

· Watch all the matches at the Agadir Challenge live or on demand on Volleyball TV.

Agadir has organised international beach volleyball events for several years, and welcomed three international tournaments since 2011. This week's, however, will be the biggest to date.

In 2011, the city hosted a single gender men's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event that attracted several of the best players in the world, and was won by Dutch Olympians Richard Schuill and Reinder Nummerdor.

After a six-year absence, the city returned to the tour in 2017, when it staged a double-gender, one-star event that saw teams from France and Switzerland finish at the top of the podium. The event was upgraded to two stars the following season, when duos from Russia and Italy were the winners.

European teams have dominated the events held in Agadir so far, with duos from the continent not only winning each of the tournaments, but also taking home as many as ten (five gold, three silver, two bronze) of the 15 medals up for grabs.

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A gold medal winner in Agadir in 2018, Italian Olympian Marta Menegatti will be back for this year's Beach Pro Tour event

The city has also staged some important events at the continental level, hosting the second round of the African Continental Cup in 2011 and the Continental Cup Finals in June 2021, when teams from Morocco (men) and Kenya (women) booked their tickets for the Tokyo Olympics.

As many as 90 teams (48 men’s and 42 women’s) from 29 countries are entered to compete this week in Agadir. The event starts on Thursday with the qualifiers, when the final eight spots in the 24-team main draws will be in play. The medal matches will take place on Sunday.