FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour update after 12 events

Lausanne, Switzerland, August 4, 2014 — Following last week’s return to the extremely popular event site in Austria after a one year layoff, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will now enjoy a two-week respite on the calendar of its 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

Following last week’s FIVB Klagefurt A1 Grand Slam, the FIVB World Tour two weeks off before resuming with the $800,000 FIVB Stare Jablonki.Grand Slam in Poland.

Last week’s double-gender $800,000 FIVB Klagenfurt A1 Grand Slam in Austria saw Brazil thrill the overflow crowds to win both the men’s and women’s gold medals as well as the silver and bronze in the women’s competition in Klagenfurt. Italy and Australia won the other two men’s medals in the eighthth double-gender FIVB Grand Slam on the 2014 event calendar. The FIVB Klagenfurt A1 Grand Slam was the 12th event of the 2014 FIVB World Tour as well as being the eighth of 10 double-gender FIVB Grand Slam tournaments currently on the 2014 calendar.

KLAGENFURT MEN
In the men’s competition, winning the gold medal in impressive fashion was Brazil’s third-seeded Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt over Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo. Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt won their first FIVB gold medal as a new team and Individually it was the 12th career FIVB gold medal for Alison and the third for Schmidt. Capturing the bronze medal in their first final four appearance in 15 events as a team and 66th and 60th respectfully as individuals was Australia’s Christopher McHugh and Isaac Kapa who defeated Latvia’s Alexandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins in straight sets..

KLAGENFURT WOMEN
Brazil swept the women’s podium for the 20th time in 272 all-time FIVB World Tour events. In just their third tournament as a team, winning the gold was Brazil’s Larissa Franca/Talita Antunes who defeated Brazilian compatriots and their former teammates Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli completing the sweep with the bronze medal was Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas. In the women’s bronze medal match, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas defeated Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth. It was the 47th career FIVB gold medal for Brazil’s Larissa and the 19th career FIVB gold medal for Talita.

MEN’S WINNERS MOVING UP
Last week’s FIVB Klagenfurt A1 Grand Slam men’s champions (Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt) are third in the point standings of the 2014 FIVB World Tour and second of the earnings list following their $57,000 gold medal payday in Klagenfurt.

WOMEN’S WINNERS MOVE UP
The FIVB Klagenfurt A1 Slam women’s gold medal winners (Brazil’s Larissa/Talita) are have only played in three events so far this year and don’t appear in the top 24 list in the season point standings yet and but are already tied for 16th in the money standings on the 2014 FIVB World Tour.

Gold in last week’s FIVB Klagenfurt A1 Grand Slam, a $800,000 FIVB Grand Slam, earned $57,000 for the winning team in each gender to split with $43,000 split by each silver medal team, $32,000 split by each of the two bronze medalists and $24,000 split by each of the fourth place teams.

POLAND NEXT
After Klagenfurt, the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour takes two weeks off before resuming in Poland with another very popular event, the $800,000 FIVB Stare Jablonki Grand Slam, Aug. 19-24 in the Mazury region of the country. It will be the ninth of 10 FIVB Grand Slams in 2014.

MEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
The top three teams in each gender at FIVB Grand Slam events receive 800, 720 and 640 points respectively on the 2014 FIVB World Tour.

USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal duo continues as the men’s point leader with 4,960 points. Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins is second with 4,570 points in the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings followed by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 4,610, Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai fourth with 4,140, fifth is Poland’s Mariusz Prudel/Grzegorz Fijalek with 3,880 points and Brazil’s Emanuel Rego/Pedro Salgado is sixth with 3,740,.

In the 2014 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings, the leading team continues to be USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with $301,000 followed by Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with $219,000, Poland’s Fijalek/Prudel third with $218,000, Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai fourth with $187,000 and Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins, fifth with $173,500.

WOMEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
For the women, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli are still at the top with 5,400 points followed by Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas with 5,020, USA’s Ross/Walsh Jennings with 4,940, , China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue fourth with 4,500, and fifth is Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo with 3,880.

In the 2014 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings, continuing to lead is USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with $265,000 followed by Brazil’s Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli second with $222,375, Bednarczuk/Seixas third with $212,000, Germany’s Holtwick/Semmler fourth with $175,000 and Spain’s Fernandez/Baquerizo now fifth with $167,000.

MEN’S FINAL FOURS
In 11 men’s tournaments so far in 2014 on the FIVB World Tour, 12 countries have at least one final four placement. With nine final four placements to lead the way so far are Brazil (one gold medal, three silver medals, two bronze medals, three fourth places) and the United States (four gold medals, one silver medal, three bronze, one fourth). With five final four placements each are Latvia (two gold medals, one silver, two fourth places) and Italy (two gold medals, two silver medals, one fourth). With four final four placements is Germany (one bronze, three fourths). With three final four placements each are Poland (one gold, two silvers) and Switzerland (two bronze medals, one fourth) With two is Russia (one gold, one silver) while Australia (bronze), Kazakhstan (fourth), Netherlands (bronze) and Mexico (bronze) have the other final four placements so far with one final four for each country.

WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS
In 12 women’s events to start the year, 11 countries have earned at least one final four finish.  Brazil leads with 15 final four placements (three gold medals, six silver medals, three bronze medals and three fourths), Germany has nine final fours (three gold medals, three silvers, two bronzes and one fourth). China has four (one silver, two bronze, one fourth) along with Czech Republic (two gold medals, one bronze, one fourth), Spain (one silver, three fourths) and the United States has four final four placements (four gold medals) as does. Netherlands has two final four finishes (one bronze, one fourth) along with Russia (one silver, one bronze) and the Slovak Republic (two bronze medals). Austria (one fourth) and Italy (one fourth place) have one final four finish each.

MEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after 11 events, USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal leads with a 44-9 record (83.0% winning percentage) followed by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with a 42-15 mark (73.7%), while tied for third are USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with a 36-14 mark (72.0%) and Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo is 36-14 (72.0%), fifth is Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with a 40-17 record (70.2%) and sixth is Germany’s Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik with a 26-12 record (68.4%). The 44 match wins by USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal is the most by any men’s team so far this season on the FIVB World Tour with Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt second with 42 wins and third is Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with 40 wins.

WOMEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
For the women to date following 12 events on the 2014 FIVB World Tour, USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings continue to lead with a 45-5 record (90.0%) while second is Czech Republic’s Marketa Slukova/Kristyna Kolocova with a 32-9 record (78.0%), third so far is Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli with a 58-17 record (77.3%) while fourth is Brazil’s newest team of Larissa/Talita at 13-4 (76.5%) and fifth is Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas at 45-16 (73.8%) and tied for sixth are Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe with a 32-15 record (68.1%) and Netherlands’ Marleen Van Iersel/Madelein Meppelink with a 32-15 record (68.1%). The 58 match wins by Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli is the most by any team on this year’s FIVB World Tour.

FIVB 2014
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar features a record purse of US$10.2 million with a season that extends from late April to mid-December competing at 19 venues in 17 countries.  This year’s FIVB World Tour includes a record 10 FIVB Grand Slam events, the inaugural Grand Slam Finale and 10 FIVB Open Tournaments throughout the world, helping expand the door for development of the sport even further.

The 10 FIVB Grand Slam competitions, all double-gender, have eight with $800,000 in total purses while both The Hague, Netherlands and the Long Beach, Calif., USA event have $1, 000,000 each in prize money, the most in FIVB Grand Slam history. The 10 FIVB Open tournaments in 2014, seven double-gender, two men only events and one women only event, have $150,000 total purses for the double gender events and $75,000 for the single-gender competitions.

NEXT GEN
As part of the initiatives of FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° and his leadership team, the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball international calendar also included a record four age-group FIVB World Championships and the 2014 Nanjing (China) Youth Olympic Games Aug. 17-27).

Poland’s Maciej Kosiak/Maciej Rudol won the men’s gold medal for the home country and Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird capturing the women’s gold medal for the second annual U23 in Myslowice, Poland. Capturing the gold medals in the inaugural U17 World Championships in Acapulco, Mexico were Switzerland’s Florian Breer/Yves Haussener and USA’s Morgan Martin/Kathryn Plummer. Winning the 14th U21 championships in Larnaka, Cyprus were Poland’s Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak  and Canada’s Sophie Bukovec/Tiadora Miric. The 13th U19 World Championships in Porto Portugal were won by Brazil’s Arthur Mariano/George Wanderley for the men and in the women’s competition the winners were Brazil’s Andressa Cavalanti/Eduarda Lisboa.