Agatha announces baby break for 2022 season

The Brazilian is expecting her first child and will not compete this year

Agatha made her second Olympic appearance last year in Tokyo

Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Agatha Bednarczuk has announced she will not appear in the inaugural season of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour as she is expecting her first child.

The 38-year-old blocker ended her five-year partnership with Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa last October, after competing at the Tokyo Olympics. She was yet to announce a new partner.

After the two won an FIVB World Tour event in Itapema last November, Agatha announced she would continue her career. She was training by herself in Rio de Janeiro and hadn’t entered any tournaments in 2022 until she made the announcement on her Instagram account.

Agatha is married to Renan Rippel, who has been her fitness coach for nearly a decade and her team manager for the last five years.

“It’s still very recent, but we already got to hear the baby’s heart,” she wrote on an Instagram post. “I’ve received several questions about my future. My idea is to return to the courts. I continue training lightly and will keep exercising as much as I can during the pregnancy.”

A 2015 world champion, the Brazilian is one of several players who will sit out of the 2022 season to start or expand their families. Other players in the same situation include Rio 2016 Olympic champion Laura Ludwig of Germany and three-time Olympian Liliana Fernandez of Spain, who are both looking forward to adding a second child to their respective families, and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic, who’s pregnant for the first time.

Agatha made her second Olympic appearance last year in Tokyo

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