Lausanne, Switzerland, October 12, 2014 - Following last week’s third visit to China this season, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will now have a two-week break on the calendar of its 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. After last week’s $150,000 FIVB Xiamen, the FIVB World Tour will conclude the 2014 season with three double-gender and one men-only FIVB Open Events. In two weeks, the FIVB World Tour will resume by visiting Argentina for the second straight year for the $150,000 FIVB Parana Open.
The double-gender $150,000 FIVB Xiamen Open saw France and Brazil win the men’s and women’s gold medals respectively. Completing the men’s podium in Xiamen were teams from Spain and Russia. While Brazil won the women’s gold medal, China treated the home-country fans to capture the silver and the United States earned the bronze medal. The FIVB Xiamen Open was the 15th event of the 2014 FIVB World Tour as well as starting the last segment of five open events on the 2014 FIVB calendar. For France, it was the second men’s gold medal for the European nation in FIVB World Tour history and the sixth all-time men’s medal for the country of France. For Brazil, it was their 136th women’s gold medal and 363rd medal overall out of 275 women’s events in the history of the FIVB World Tour.
Xiamen men
In the men’s competition, winning the gold medal in impressive fashion was France’s newest pairing of Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson who were playing in just their sixth FIVB World Tour event by defeating Spain’s Christian Garcia/Francisco Marco in three sets. Individually it was the first career FIVB gold medal for both teams as Krou is in his first season on the tour and Rowlandson is in his third year. France’s Krou/Rowlandson duo was a perfect 7-0 in matches in Xiamen. Capturing the bronze medal was Russia’s Dmitri Barouk/Nikita Liamin who defeated USA’s Theodore Brunner/John Mayer in straight sets.
Xiamen women
In their 14th tournament as a team, winning the women’s gold medal for the first time was Brazil’s powerful Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli who came from behind to defeat China’s home-country duo of Fan Wang/Yuan Yue in three close sets. In the women’s bronze medal match, USA’s qualification team Tealie Hunkus/Kendra Van Zieten stopped Greece’s Vasiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani in two sets. Recording a near-perfect 7-1 match record in Xiamen, it was the 46th career FIVB gold medal for Brazil’s Juliana and the 10th career FIVB gold medal for Brazil’s Antonelli. The new Brazilian team also has four silver medals and one bronze on this year’s FIVB World Tour.
Men's winners fresh start
Last week’s FIVB Xiamen Open men’s champions earned 500 points on the FIVB World Tour and picked up the gold medal purse of $11,000.
Women's winners solidify top spot
The FIVB Xiamen Open women’s 7-1 gold medal winners (Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli) have played in all 14 women’s events so far this year on the FIVB World Tour and continue to lead both the FIVB World Season Rankings and the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour point standings.
Gold in last week’s $150,000 FIVB Xiamen earned $11,000 for the winning team in each gender, $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.
Men's points/Earnings
The top three teams in each gender at FIVB Open events receive 500, 450 and 400 points respectively on the 2014 FIVB World Tour. Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins are at the top of the men’s point leader board with 5,770 points. USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal duo is second with 5,440 points in the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings, followed by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 5,330, Poland’s Mariusz Prudel/Grzegorz Fijalek fourth with 4,600 and fifth is USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with 4,280.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings, the leading team continues to be USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with $318,000, followed by Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with $241,000, Poland’s Fijalek/Prudel third with $240,000, Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins fourth with $233,500 and Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai fifth with $187,000.
Women's points/Earnings
For the women, Brazilian pair Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli has moved further ahead at the top with 6,740 points, followed by Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas with 5,660, USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings third with 5,420, China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue fourth with 4,950, Netherlands' van Iersel/Meppeling fifth with 4,640, sixth is Germany’s Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler with 4,610 and seventh is Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe with 4,580.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings, continuing to lead is USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with $282,000, followed by Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli second with $261,375, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas third with $233,000, Germany’s Holtwick/Semmler fourth with $214,000 and Brazil’s Larissa France/Talita Antunes fifth with $199,000.
Men's final fours
In 14 men’s tournaments so far in 2014 on the FIVB World Tour, 15 countries have at least one final four placement. With 11 final four placements to lead the way are Brazil (two gold medals, four silver medals, two bronze medals, three fourth places) and the United States (four gold medals, one silver medal, four bronze, two fourths). With six final four placements each is Latvia (two gold medals, two silvers, two fourth places) followed by Italy with five (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), Russia (one gold, one silver, one bronze) and Switzerland (two bronze medals, one fourth) With two is the Netherlands (one gold, one bronze) while Australia (bronze). Austria (fourth), Canada (fourth), France (gold), Kazakhstan (fourth), Mexico (bronze) and Spain have the other final four placements so far with one final four for each country.
Women's final fours
In 15 women’s events so far this year, 12 countries have earned at least one final four finish. Brazil leads with 20 final four placements (six gold medals, six silver medals, three bronze medals and five fourths), Germany has 11 final fours (three gold medals, four silvers, three bronzes and one fourth). China has five (two silvers, two bronze, one fourth) as does the United States (four gold medals, one bronze), Czech Republic has four (two gold medals, one bronze, one fourth) along with Spain (one silver, three fourths). Netherlands has three final four finishes (two bronze, one fourth) while with two final fours are Italy (one silver, one fourth place), Russia (one silver medal, one bronze) and the Slovak Republic (two bronze medals). Austria (one fourth) and Greece (one fourth) each has one final four finish.
Men's winning percentage
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after 14 events, USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal lead with a 48-10 record (82.8% winning percentage) followed by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with a 47-18 mark (72.3%), while third is Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo at 36-14 (72.0%), fourth is USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with a 43-17 mark (71.7%) and fifth is Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with a 50-20 record (71.4%). The 50 match wins by Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins is the most by any men’s team so far this season on the FIVB World Tour, while with 48 wins USA’s Rosenthal/Dalhausser are second and third is Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with 47 wins.
Women's winning percentage
For the women to date, following 15 events on the 2014 FIVB World Tour, USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings continue to lead with a 49-6 record (89.1%) while second is Brazil’s newest team of Larissa/Talita at 28-4 (87.5%), third is the Czech Republic’s Marketa Slukova/Kristyna Kolocova with a 39-12 record (76.5%), fourth so far is Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli with a 71-22 record (76.3%) while fifth is Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas at 50-19 (72.5%). The 71 match wins by Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli is the most by any team on this year’s FIVB World Tour. Among women, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas have the second-most wins with 50 and third are USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with 49 match wins.
Next up
With the grand slam portion of the 2014 FIVB World Tour now complete, the tour continues through December with four FIVB Open events spread across the globe. Remaining on the 2014 calendar are three double-gender FIVB Open events along with one men-only FIVB Open tournament.
Next up, the 2014 FIVB World Tour will travel to Argentina for the double-gender FIVB Parana Open (Oct. 28-Nov. 2). After that event, the 2014 FIVB World Tour will head to Qatar for the men-only FIVB Doha Open (Nov. 4-8) then on to India for the double-gender FIVB Chennai Open (Nov. 25-30), before concluding in South Africa with the double-gender FIVB Mangaung Open (Dec. 9-14).
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 and nine FIVB Open Tournaments throughout the world, helping open the door for further development of the sport.
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 nine FIVB Open tournaments in 2014, seven double-gender, one men only event and one women only event, have $150,000 total purses for the double gender events and $75,000 for the single-gender competitions.
Next generation
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 (August 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 captured the women’s gold medal for the second annual FIVB U23 World Championships in Myslowice, Poland. Capturing the gold medals in the inaugural FIVB U17 World Championships in Acapulco, Mexico were Switzerland’s Florian Breer/Yves Haussener and USA’s Morgan Martin/Kathryn Plummer. Winning the 14th FIVB U21 World Championships in Larnaka, Cyprus were Poland’s Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak and Canada’s Sophie Bukovec/Tiadora Miric. The 13th FIVB 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.