Prague, Czech Republic, May 19, 2014 – The centre court opening match of the FIVB World Tour Prague Open main draw will feature Shanghai champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst from Germany vs. Czech qualifiers Michaela Vorlova and Sarka Nakladalova. The match in the Stvanice Stadium in the Czech capital will start at 10.00 on Thursday.
Top seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova start their first match at 13.00 on centre court. The Czech team, eager to win their first medal in front of a home crowd, plays Dutch qualifiers Roos van der Hoeven and Jessica Smit.
New team Juliana Felisberta and Maria Antonelli, who each collected numerous medals with different partners in the past, begin their Prague adventure against Martina Bonnerova and Barbora Hermannova from the Czech Republic. After two silver medals in Fuzhou and Puerto Vallarta the Brazilians will definitely go for gold this time.
World champion Chen Xue from China and her new teenage partner Xinyi Xia open against Norway’s Cindy Treland and Janne Pedersen, while vice-world champions Karla Borger and Britta Büthe meet Czech team Diana Zolnercikova and Martina Jakubsova in their first match.
The first day of main draw will feature two rounds of pool play. The third and final pool matches are scheduled for Friday, followed by the 24-team first knockout round with the numbers two and three of each pool. Pool winners advance directly to the second elimination round on Saturday.
The semifinals and finals are scheduled for Sunday. The gold medal teams in the FIVB Prague Open will each split $11,000, the silver $8,000, the bronze $6,000 and fourth place $4,500.
After four men’s only editions in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012, the 2014 Prague Open is a women’s only event. It is the fourth tournament on the 2014 World Tour calendar and the third Open event.
The beach courts and stadium are situated on Stvanice Island in the middle of the Vltava River. With a population of over 1.2 million, Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic centre of the Czech state for over 1,100 years. The city has been included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 1992.
After the Prague Open the World Tour travels to Russia for the double gender Anapa Open (May 27-June 1) and the Moscow Grand Slam (June 11-15). In between these two events the European teams compete in Cagliari for the European title (June 3-8).
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