2014 FIVB World Tour takes break before three straight $800,000 Grand Slams

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 2, 2014—Starting the year with one Grand Slam and four Open events in China, Mexico, Czech Republic and Russia, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) now takes a one-week break before presenting three consecutive US$800,000 FIVB Grand Slam events on the calendar of its 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

Last week’s double-gender $150,000 FIVB Anapa Open saw host country Russia win three medals (two women’s and one men’s) and Germany, Latvia and Switzerland one each to complete the podium in the third double-gender FIVB Open on the 2014 calendar. The FIVB Anapa Open was the fifth event of the 2014 FIVB World Tour as well as being the fourth of 10 FIVB Open tournaments and the third of seven double-gender FIVB Opens currently on the 20014 calendar.

ANAPA WOMEN
Each winning their first FIVB World Tour women’s gold medal and fourth all-time for their country, Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Julia Grossner held off Russia’s Alexandra Shiryaeva/Ekaterina Syrtseva in the two-set final. In the women’s bronze medal match, the host country earned a second medal as Maria Prokopeva/Evgeniya Ukolova won in two sets over Spain’s Angela Lobato/Paulo Soria.

ANAPA MEN
In the men’s competition in Anapa, winning the gold medal in a 53-minute, three-set finale was Latvia’s Martins Plavins/Aleksandrs Solovejs over Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov while and all-Swiss bronze medal match saw Philip Gabathuler/Mirco Gerson defeat Sebastian Chevallier/Alexei Prawdzic in a 52-minute, three-set match.

WOMEN’S CHAMPS MOVE UP
The FIVB Anapa Open women’s gold medal winners were competing in their fourth event of the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and moved up to eighth in the season point standings and 12th in the money standings.

MEN’S CHAMPS MOVE UP TOO
The men’s champions were competing in their third event on the 2014 FIVB World Tour and moved up to fifth in season points and 13th in earnings.

Gold in each FIVB Open event in 20014 earns $11,000 for the team to split with $8,000 split by each silver medal team, $6,000 split by each of the two bronze medalists and $4,500 split by each of the fourth place teams.

SKED TRIFECTA
Following this week’s break from the FIVB World Tour, the 2014 FIVB calendar resumes with three consecutive double-gender $800,000FIVB Grand Slams in Moscow (June 11-15), Berlin (June 17-22) and Stavanger, Norway (June 24-28).  This week the majority of the European players will be in Cagliari, Italy to compete in the 2014 CEV European Championships.

MEN’S POINTS
The top three teams in each gender receive 250, 225 and 200 points respectively at FIVB Open events on the 2014 FIVB World Tour. Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins has 1,570 points to lead the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings followed by Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai with 1,300, Russia’s Semenov/Krasilnikov with 870, Brazil’s Emanuel Rego/Pedro Salgado with 860 and fifth is Latvia’s Plavins/Solovejs with 820 points.

WOMEN’S POINTS
For the women, China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue have moved to the top with 1,260 points followed by their Chinese compatriots Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia with 1,580, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli with 1,560 points Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst with 1,440, and Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas is fifth with 1,380.

MEN’S PODIUMS
In four men’s tournaments so far in 2014 on the FIVB World Tour eight countries have at least one final four placement. Latvia has four final fours with two gold medals, one silver and one fourth while Italy has three final four placements including two gold medals and one silver to lead the way. Brazil has two final fours (one silver, one fourth), Germany also has two final fours with one bronze and one fourth place finish as does Switzerland (one bronze, one fourth). Netherlands, Mexico and Russia have the other final four placements so far with one final four for each country.

WOMEN’S PODIUMS
In five women’s events to start the year, eight countries have earned at least one final four finish.  Brazil leads with six final four placements (one gold, two silvers, one bronze and two fourths), Germany has five final fours (two gold medals, one silver, one bronze and one fourth. China has three (one silver and two bronze), Russia has two (one silver, one bronze) and Austria (fourth), Czech Republic (gold), Spain (fourth) and the United States (gold) have one final four finish each.

MEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after three events, Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai is 13-1 (92.9% winning percentage), Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with a 17-4 record (81.0 percent) is next followed by Latvia’s Plavins/Solovejs with a 10-3 record (76.9%), Brazil’s Emanuel Rego/Pedro Salgado is fourth at 75.0% (9-3) while tied for fifth at 70.0% and 7-3 in overall matches is USA’s Sean Rosenthal/Phil Dalhausser and Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira.

WOMEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
For the women to date, USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross is 11-1 to start the season (91.7%) while next is Germany’s Ludwig/Walkenhorst at 16-3 (84.2%) while third so far is Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe at 80.0% (8-2), fourth is Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas at 78.9%. In sixth at 78.6% and with the most wins this year at 22-6 is Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli. China’s Xue/Xia have the second-most match wins so far with 20 (20-8, 71.4%)