DORSET duo Jess Grimson and Vicky Palmer are set to begin in earnest their preparations for the next round of Rio 2016 qualifying.

The top-seeded pair will this weekend turn out at the first round of the Volleyball England Beach Tour in Skegness a month after they booked their place in the fourth round of the Continental Cup – which doubles as Olympic qualifying.

Winton-based Grimson and Parkstone-based Palmer defeated Belarus 2-1 in a golden match in Thessaloniki, Greece to keep alive their Rio hopes.

Grimson told the Daily Echo: “The next round of the Continental Cup will be our main focus so everything we do between now and then will be in preparation for that.

“We’ve got the start of the domestic tour this weekend and we’re hoping to play in a few NEVZA events and exhibitions over the summer.

“Some of the top teams played in Greece and I don’t think we had really expected to get into the next round given how little preparation we had.

“We normally start training in January but because I had a shoulder operation we only had a couple of weeks, which was not ideal. I think we were a bit surprised to go through.”