Australia's leading Olympic beach volleyball hopefuls Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy will have a chance to test out the sands of Copacabana in this week's Rio Grand Slam.
Bawden and Clancy will compete against about 60 other women's teams from 29 countries at this week's FIVB world tour event in Rio, where they should return as genuine medal prospects in August.
The pair are almost certain to get the nod for Rio, currently ranked fifth on the provisional Olympic rankings.
The top 15 as of June 13 will earn qualification.
While providing a practice run for Bawden and Clancy, the tournament will dangle the Olympic carrot for their compatriots Nikki Laird and Mariafe Artacho del Solar.
The current U23 world champions will need to win their way through the Asian Continental qualifiers in June to qualify for a second quota place.
While a good test, a more accurate gauge on how Laird and Artacho are tracking will come at Sydney's Manly later this month in the Asian beach volleyball championships.
They will contest the Rio Grand Slam qualifying rounds in a bid to make the main draw, while Bawden and Clancy seeded sixth.
