Crabb won the men’s competition at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Beach World Tour four star event last year with John Mayer.

He opened his title defence with Mayer at the group stage with the duo facing Australia’s Christopher McHugh and Zachery Schubert.

The Americans earned a comfortable 21-16, 21-15 victory to begin their campaign in impressive fashion.

They are now set to face Bruno Schmidt and Evandro with the result likely to determine the pool winners after the Brazilians won their opening match.

Schmidt and Evandro earned a 21-14, 21-9 victory over the Chinese pairing Wu Jiaxin and Ha Likejiang.

Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Morais Filho earned a straight sets 21-17, 21-17 win over China’s Li Zhouxoin and Chaowei Zhou in Pool F.

They are now scheduled to meet their compatriots Pedro Solberg and Vitor Felipe, after the Brazilians won their first pool match 15-21, 22-20, 15-10 against Mexico’s Juan Vigen and Lombardo Ontiveros.

Brazil’s Agatha and Duda are considered among the favourites in the women’s competition and they began the pool stage impressively.

The duo secured a 21-11, 21-18 win over Greece’s Vasiliki Arvaniti and Panagiota Karagkouni.

Their next match will come against America's Betsi Flint and Emily Day, who came from a game down to win 17-21, 21-14, 15-11 in Pool C against Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova.

The pool stage of both the men’s and women’s competitions are due to conclude tomorrow.