It took until three weeks before the Olympic Games, but beach volleyball player Martin Reader has won his coveted ticket to London.

Reader, a Comox native who lived in Vancouver for several years before relocating to Toronto in September, and his partner Josh Binstock of Toronto, won Canada’s lone men’s berth on Saturday with a 21-18, 21-14 victory over Chris Redmann of Toronto and Ben Saxton of Calgary at Ashbridges Bay in Toronto.

Reader and Binstock, who teamed up this year, are ranked No. 35 among the 146 duos on the FIBV World Tour. They needed to face off against Redmann and Saxton after both duos combined in late June in Mexico to win the Continental Cup and earn Canada a regional Olympic berth.

Canada’s only beach volleyball Olympic medal came in 1996 when Mark Heese and John Child earned bronze.

Luckily, I had a chance to hang out with Martin before the Continental Cup and shoot a few pictures of him. To see more of this story head over to my website www.coryvanderploeg.com

“I am so proud about this achievement for my country. Since I was 11 years old and started playing sports I’ve dreamed about going to the Olympic Games.” says Martin Reader.