Lausanne, Switzerland, May 24, 2013 – Corrientes champions Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel are the team to beat at the Transavia Grand Slam in The Hague. A lot is expected from the Dutch girls after their victory in Corrientes following two fourth place finishes. And this time they will be playing on home ground too.
The third Grand Slam of the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour season will take place on the beaches of Scheveningen from June 11 to 16. After a number of Open events, The Hague will host a Grand Slam event for the first time. In 2015 it will be the venue for the World Championships.
Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Maria Antonelli, runners up in Corrientes, lead the field in the women’s competition after Juliana was withdrawn from the tournament followed by USA’s Jennifer Kessy and April Ross.
Shanghai Grand Slam champions Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Taiana Lima are seeded third while Dutch pair Sanne Keizer and Marleen van Iersel are ranked seventh in The Hague. Among the other women's teams are the Salgado sisters from Brazil, who claimed two bronze medals in three events so far.
In the men’s competition, USA’s Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal, gold medallists at the first 2013 event in Fuzhou, lead the field. Also competing are Jake Gibb and his new partner Casey Patterson, who had a flying start with gold in Shanghai and silver in Corrientes.
World Champions Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti, who finished ninth in Argentina in their first 2013 tournament after coming back from an injury, are ranked second. Ricardo Santos, the 2011 champion in The Hague with Pedro Cunha, has enrolled with his new partner Alvaro Filho. Latvia’s Janis Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs who claimed the gold in Argentina are also confirmed.
Dutch veterans Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil are returning to the FIVB World Tour after finishing fourth at the London Olympic Games. They are ranked fifth at their first event of the season. Dutch player Jon Stiekema is planning on making his comeback with Christiaan Varenhorst after breaking his little finger of his right hand in Fuzhou.
The actual seeding for the tournament will be confirmed following the Technical Meeting on the eve of the tournament. The seeding will be based on the sum of the individual rankings, taking into consideration the status as at -21 days.
Starting from The Hague, the number of qualification teams will be limited to 24, which will now apply to the remaining tournaments on the Tour.
The Transavia Grand Slam is the third of 10 Grand Slams, which make up the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, which also includes the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Stare Jablonki, Poland from July 1 to 7.
The distribution of national federation vacancies in the Main Draw, Qualification and Reserve lists are based on federation ranking points, which take into consideration the best six-out-of-the-last-eight results dating back 365 days on a player by player basis for the respective country.
FIVB NF Ranking -
Women The Hague Grand Slam Women -
Main Draw The Hague Grand Slam Women -
QualificationThe Hague Grand Slam Women -
Reserve
FIVB NF Ranking -
MenThe Hague Grand Slam Men -
Main DrawThe Hague Grand Slam Men -
QualificationThe Hague Grand Slam Men -
Reserve FIVB Beach Volleyball Handbook 2013