KEY POINTS:
Leading international pairings have arrived to challenge New Zealand beach volleyball exponents Anna Scarlett and Susan Blundell when the national series moves to Wellington this weekend.
Winners in the first round of five at Christchurch last weekend, Scarlett and Blundell will be out to end their hex at Oriental Parade, where they have finished runners up in the last two summers.
Heading the international cast of challenges are Germans Okka Rau and Helke Classen. Two-time Olympian Rau is currently ranked 14th in the world, having won the Marseille leg of the world tour last year.
The youthful, athletic Brazilian woman's team of Nina Zgoda and Fernanda Costa are also joining the tour in Wellington, along with British pair Rachel Turner and Helen Brown and Americans Paige Davis and Jenn Synder.
New Zealand's other hopes are Debbie Hill of Dunedin and Melissa Ruru of Tauranga, who reached the final in Christchurch, only to be beaten in straight sets.
In the men's field, top-ranked New Zealanders Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochhead make their first appearance, providing home crowds with a first chance to see the form that saw them on the World Tour podium for the first time.
The world No 21 pairing recorded a fourth placing in Austria in early August, and went one place better in the following event in Norway.
Pitman and Lochhead will chase a fourth successive win in Wellington but face a quality field of internationals.
Hannes Wyder and Rafael Bissig of Switzerland were runners-up in Christchurch, while threats will come from the tall Dutch pairing of Timko Lokerse and Bart Bolsterlee, Raimund Wenning and Stefan Schmeckenbecker from Germany, and the strong United States team of Matt Prosser and Dane Jensen.
Veterans Brendon Heath and Greg Lindsay-Brown won in Christchurch and could provide the strongest challenge for Pitman and Lochhead.
- NZPA
