Middle-ranked Brazilian teams reshuffle ahead of 2012 season

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- Beijing 2008 Olympic Games silver medalist Marcio Araujo and 2008 FIVB World Tour champion Pedro Salgado will join forces for the 2012 season, while the latter's two sisters, Carolina and Maria Clara, will split for the first time since 2003 after a number of Brazilian tandems were shaken up ahead of the start of the World Tour.

Meanwhile, Marcio's former partner, Fabio Luiz Magalhaes, will also have a new partner in two-time FIVB Junior World Championship runner-up Alvaro Filho.

With Carolina set to take much of the season off to have her baby, Maria Clara will partner with 2000 Sydney Olympic Games indoor volleyball bronze medalist Raquel Peluci. Elsewhere, Olympian Renata Ribeiro will also have a new teammate after ending her partnership with Priscilla Lima. She will join 27-year-old Elize Maia, while Lima will team up with Izabel Bezerra.

The new pairs are all set to turn out for the first tournament on the Brazilian national tour in Salvador, February 3-5.

Elsewhere, reigning world champions Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, and Ricardo Santos/Pedro Cunha will turn out for the men, and reigning world champions Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, and Talita Antunes/Maria Antonelli step out for the women.

Content courtesy of International Volleyball Federation