Reigning champions start in style, The Beach is in Town and so are the world champions.

The Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rome exploded in action on day one with a victory for the women’s reigning champions Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan.

The Canadian duo, who scooped gold at the last world championship in 2019 in Hamburg, began their title defence with a comfortable straight sets victory over Australian world champs debutants Georgia Johnson and Alisha Stevens on Friday afternoon.

The number 10 seeds enjoyed the perfect warm-up for Rome by winning the Jurmala Elite16 event in Latvia last week before getting off to a winning start at the Foro Italico.

“The timing of that win couldn’t have been better,” said Humana-Paredes after the 21-17, 21-6 win over the Australians. “We have been working for many months on producing consistent volleyball and it really came together in Jurmala. Now we want to carry that into this week, and we’re excited that we were able to play so well before the world championships.”

Day one of the championships in the Italian capital also saw the first home teams taking to the sand for the first time. Number one seeds, Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi begin their journey with a meeting against Gambian duo Mybe Jarra and Sainey Jawo on centre court at 19:00 CEST.

Follow the event in Rome as it happens online at volleyballworld.com and watch the action unfold live at volleyballworld.tv.

Information and photo source : International Volleyball Federation