Vanuatu is confident of success at beach volleyball's final Olympic qualification tournament.
Nine countries are in Russia for the World Continental Cup finals, from which the top two teams will advance to the Rio Olympics.
Vanuatu's pairings of Linline Matauatu/Miller Pata and Loti Joe/Sherysyn Toko are seeded third and fourth in Sochi and face teams from Ukraine, Colombia and Austria in Pool B over the coming days.
Vanuatu beach volleyball players Miller Pata and Linline Matauatu. Photo: Facebook / Vanuatu Beach Volleyball
The President of Vanuatu Volleyball, Debbie Masaufakalo believed they had a good shot at achieving their goal.
"I think we feel that the Asian continent is looking a lot stronger at the moment than some of the other continents. The Africans didn't turn up, the Europeans obviously are quite strong (and) South Americans not so strong so I think it will be a matchup between the Asian continent and the European continent but it's looking quite positive," she said.
Vanuatu had a bye on the opening day of competition and watched Austria's two teams defeat Ukraine in straight sets.
"No, we haven't played these teams (on the World Tour). We haven't played Ukraine - Ukraine finished second in the European Continental Cup so they beat Czechoslovakia, Russia and Austria. We watched them today - I think we should probably win that match-up," she said.
"Austria has split their number one pairing so that will be interesting to see how successful that tactic works out for them. (Top seeds) China is obviously really strong in (the other pool) so I suspect they will finish top of their pool and we aim to finish top of our pool."
Vanuatu were among the interested observers watching Austria vs Ukraine at the World Continental Cup finals. Photo: FIVB
The two pool winners in Sochi will advance directly to the semi finals, with the second and third place teams in each pool playing crossover matches in the quarter finals.
No final will be played with the two semi final winners advancing directly to Rio.
Debbie Masaufakalo said Vanuatu was grateful to their sponsors and to Volleyball Australia and Oceania Volleyball for their support in making it to the final qualifying tournament.
