News Copacabana will host the Rio 2016 beach volleyball test event this week, with Brazilian teams aiming to stamp their authority on their home sands ahead of next year’s Olympic Games Men’s pair Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt and female duo Larissa França and Talita Antunes – both teams already confirmed for the Rio 2016 Games – will compete at the Rio Open, which is part of the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour The event officially begins on Tuesday (1 September), when teams will be training at the venue and the technical meeting will be held, although competition gets underway on Wednesday with the qualification stage and ends on Sunday with the finals After six test events in August (triathlon, rowing, equestrian, sailing, road cycling, marathon swimming) beach volleyball will be the first of three in September, with canoe sprint and archery to follow (click here to find out more about the Rio 2016 test event programme) The beach volleyball event is being organised by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), although Rio 2016 will also train staff and test operations during the event The Rio Open will be contested by 24 teams of each gender, with ranking points towards Olympic qualification up for grabs The tournament is particularly important for the women’s World Tour, with the last of eight places in the finals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to be decided between teams from Spain, Germany and China   Entrance is free and the home fans will plenty to cheer for, as Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt and Larissa França/Talita Antunes will arrive fresh from their victories in last week’s FIVB Olsztyn Grand Slam in Poland, which saw them confirmed as two of the four teams Brazil has in next year’s Olympic Games, two in each gender Brazil won the extra two slots (they already had two places as host nation) by winning the men’s and women’s titles at July’s world championships, when Cerutti/Schmidt and Barbara Seixas/Agatha Bednarczuk took gold “Brazil has been dominating international beach volleyball, they are currently the world champions in both genders, so their presence on the podium this week is very likely”, said Rio 2016 beach volleyball competition manager Fernando Marques The arena (in front of Avenida Princesa Isabel on the seafront) will have a temporary grandstand with 3,000 seats, less than the nearly 12,000 who will roar the players on next year, but still enough to create a lively atmosphere And Marques explained that there will be plenty going on “During the Rio 2016 Games, we will have eight courts, but only one will be used for matches as the tournament will take place over 13 days,” he said “The others will be used for training (five) and warming up (two) For the test event, we will also have eight courts, but six will be used for matches at the same time and only two will be for warming up So our team will face a significant test in terms of being agile, and we are very excited ”For more information on the Rio Open, click here