Reigning women’s world beach volleyball champions Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ont., and Toronto’s Melissa Humana-Paredes ready for Tokyo Olympics
This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Sarah Pavan has felt some of Melissa Humana-Paredes rub off on her during their five-year partnership on the beach volleyball court.
The global pandemic pushing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to 2021 put distance on their straight-sets win over Americans Alix Klineman and April Ross in Hamburg, Germany, in the 2019 world final.The intense, calculating Pavan with the devastating finish her 6-foot-5 frame affords her meshes with the tenacious, extroverted Humana-Paredes digging balls out of the backcourt.
“On the court, a lot of it is letting each other be who they are,” Humana-Paredes said. “I’m a little bit more outgoing. I have a little bit more zest and joy that comes out on the court and she’s more introverted, very intense and can be reserved at times.Pavan and Heather Bansley of London, Ont., reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where Humana-Paredes was a Canadian team alternate in the event of injury.
Together, they’ve reached 14 finals and won seven, including the 2019 world title and a 2018 Commonwealth Games gold. Pavan and Humana-Paredes were among the first Canadian athletes to secure a Tokyo berth with that world title.Beach volleyball preliminaries start July 24, the day after the opening ceremonies, at Shiokaze Park near Odaiba Marine Park.
“We were probably one of the few teams that were forced to be apart for so long,” Humana-Paredes said.
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