Concerns over poor ticket sales at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games have been compounded by disappointing attendances during beach volleyball games featuring the home nation.
While sparse crowds at the rugby sevens and road cycling events have been put down to those events being considered minority sports in Brazil, beach volleyball is one of the host nation’s most popular sports.
However, when Brazil’s women played Russia on Sunday morning just 4,400 spectators were present at the 12,000-seater Copacabana beach arena.
Larissa Franca, who was playing for Brazil, said: “We did see the empty seats but I think that it is still early in the tournament. It may be that people are waiting until later in the competition and I know they have been queueing for two hours to get in. It was 10.30 so that is an early start and it is to be expected so early in the Games.
“Maybe people were just waking up. Brazilians follow beach volleyball, we play with a real passion and the sun, sea and sand mean people just love it.”
It is believed that transport difficulties and a bomb scare contributed to poor attendance at the finish of cycling’s men’s road race on Saturday.
Many people have taken to social media to complain about the long queues for the various events, with suggestions that it takes up to 90 minutes to get in to some venues.
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