Stare Jablonki, Poland, June 20, 2013 – The Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova will have the honour of playing the opening match of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships on centre court against Russia’s Maria Prokopeva and Svetlana Popova when play begins in Stare Jablonki, Poland on July 1 at 10:00 (local time) following the confirmation of the playing schedule on Thursday.
A total of 208 matches have been scheduled by the FIVB, host broadcaster TVP and FIVB Television Agency IMG, across the seven days of play taking into consideration the requests of the host broadcaster and international television takers.
The entire order of pool play has been confirmed with a total of four courts being used for women’s matches on Monday before five courts are used when men’s pool play begins on Tuesday. The Women’s Round of 32 will start on Thursday, followed by the men one day later before the women’s semifinals and finals take place on Saturday and the men on Sunday.
Women’s World Championship contenders Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler of Germany, seeded third, will also feature at 10:00 on the opening day when they play Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite and Monika Povilaityte on court three.
Women’s top seeds and 2011 World Championship bronze medallists Chen Xue and Zhang Xi of China will feature in the second match on centre court at 11:00 against Polish wild cards Daria Paszek and Katarzyna Kociolek.
Second seeds and 2009 world champions April Ross and Jen Kessy of USA will play their first match on Monday at 18:00 against compatriots Lauren Fendrick and Brittany Hochevar on centre court.
Men’s top seeds and defending champions Alison Cerrutti and Emanuel Rego from Brazil make their first appearance at 16:00 on Tuesday against Polish Jaroslaw Lech and Damian Wojtasik while US second seeds Phil Dalhauser and Sean Rosenthal take to the court a few hours later at 18:00 against Mexico’s Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros.
Key Polish teams will feature at 11:00 and 13:00 during each day of pool play when TVP is broadcasting live, while all other centre court matches will be screened on TVP Sport, with the exception of Monday.
Since the announcement of the entry lists there has been changes to five teams with USA’s Emily Day replacing Jenny Ann Kropp to join Summer Ross in the women’s draw while in the men’s competition Germany’s Markus Böckermann and Mischa Urbatzka replaced Eric Koreng and Alexander Walkenhorst while the Netherlands saw Daan Spijkers join Christiaan Varenhorst with Michiel van Dorsten teaming up with Steven van de Velde. The last change saw Javier Monfort team up with Spanish wild card Inocencio Lario. All teams keep their pool positions.
The number of countries represented at the tournament is 30 with 23 different countries in the women's draw and 21 in the men's.
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Tournament Page
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Women's Schedule
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Men's Schedule
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Women's Entry List
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Men's Entry List