Sitting volleyball pools set for Paris 2024 Paralympics

With about 100 days to go until the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, World ParaVolley (WPV) has announced the pools for the men’s and women’s sitting volleyball competitions.

Hosts France claimed the first position in Pool A, while the remaining qualified teams were positioned according to their World Rankings as of 1 March 2024, using the serpentine system.

In the men’s tournament, France joined Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt and Kazakhstan in Pool A. Defending Paralympic champions Islamic Republic of Iran will face Brazil, Germany and Ukraine in Pool B for a place in the semifinals.

In the women’s tournament, France were drawn against Tokyo 2020 gold medallists USA, silver medallists China and Italy in Pool A. Reigning Paralympic bronze medallists Brazil will take on Canada, Rwanda and Slovenia in Pool B.

Road to Paris 2024

The pools were announced on 21 May following the conclusion of the 2024 World ParaVolley Final Paralympics Qualifier, which took place in Dali, China last month. Ukraine’s men’s team and Slovenia’s women’s team clinched the final qualification spots for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which will take place from 28 August to 8 September.

In addition to the Final Paralympics Qualifier and the 2022 World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships, four zonal championships and a World Cup were held to determine the teams that will compete in the French capital.

“The teams participating in the qualifying pathway deserve our thanks and appreciation for their patience and understanding, their dedication and preparation,” WPV President Lori Okimura said.

“Our hundreds of volunteers around the world, our international technical officials including media delegates, classifiers, referees and technical officials, all played an important role in achieving the result of the 16 teams that will compete in the 10-day sitting volleyball competition at the Paris Paralympics.”

Next stop: Paris 2024

The North Paris Arena in Seine-Saint-Denis will stage sitting volleyball competitions at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

Preliminary round matches will be held from 29 August-3 September, followed by classification matches and the semi-finals. The bronze medal and gold medal matches are scheduled for 6-7 September.