Lausanne, Switzerland, November 10, 2014 — Following last week’s visit to Qatar, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will now have a a month off on the calendar of its 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. After last week’s men’s only $75,000 FIVB Doha Open in Qatar, the 2014 FIVB World Tour will conclude it’s season by visiting South Africa for the double-gender $150,000 FIVB Mangaung Open.
Last week’s men’s only $75,000 FIVB Doha Open saw a new German team capture the gold. Completing the men’s podium in Doha were teams from Canada and France. The FIVB Paraná Open was the 16th event of the 2014 FIVB World Tour. The podium was filled with teams who are among the emerging teams in their respective nations. The FIVB Doha Open was the 313th men’s event in the history of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that began in 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
DOHA MEN
In the men’s only competition, winning the gold medal in impressive fashion was Germany’s surprising Tim Holler/Jonas Schroder duo that was playing in just its second FIVB World Tour event. The German’s upset Canada’s newest pairing of Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter who were playing in just their seventh FIVB World Tour event but won the men’s gold medal the week before in Argentina at the FIVB Paraná Open. Germany’s Holler/Schroder won in straight sets over the visibly fatigued Canadians, 21-18, 21-13 in just 33 minutes. Individually it was the first career FIVB gold medal for both players. France’s Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson, gold medalists at the FIVB Xiamen Open last month in China, took home the bronze medal by defeating Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Serguey Prokopyev, 21-15, 21-15 in 34 minutes.
MEN’S WINNERS BIG START
Last week’s FIVB Doha Open men’s champions Holler/Schroder of Germany earned 500 points on the FIVB World Tour and picked up the gold medal purse of $11,000. Canada’s Binstock/Schachter not only picked up their second medal in as many tournaments, they also earned 450 valuable points in the FIVB World Season Rankings and the FIVB World Tour points as well as earning another $8,000 to give them $19,000 in the last two weeks.
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 is 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, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli pair continues 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, Netherland’s 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 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 $210,000.
MEN’S FINAL FOURS
In 16 men’s tournaments so far in 2014 on the FIVB World Tour, 17 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 Germany (one gold, one bronze, four fourths) and Latvia (two gold medals, two silvers, two fourth places) followed by Italy with five (two gold medals, two silver medals, one fourth). With three final four placements each are Canada (one gold, one silver, one bronze), Poland (one gold, two silvers), Russia (one gold, one silver, one bronze) and Switzerland (two bronze medals, one fourth). With two are France (one gold, one bronze) and the Netherlands (one gold, one bronze) while Australia (bronze). Austria (fourth), Chile (silver), 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 16 women’s events so far this year, 12 countries have earned at least one final four finish. Brazil leads with 23 final four placements (seven gold medals, seven silver medals, four bronze medals and five fourths), Germany has 11 final fours (three gold medals, four silvers, three bronzes and one fourth). The United States has six (four gold medals, one bronze, one fourth), China has five (two silvers, two bronze, one fourth) as does, 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 16 events, USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal leads with a 48-10 record (82.8% winning percentage) followed by Canada’s Binstock/Schachter with a 24-9 record (72.7%), Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt third with a 47-18 mark (72.3%), while four is Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo at 36-14 (72.0%), fifth is USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with a 43-17 mark (71.7%) and six 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 is USA’s Rosenthal/Dalhausser 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, Brazil’s newest team of Larissa/Talita at 35-4 (89.7%) have taken over the lead while second is USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings with a 49-6 record (89.1%), third is 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 has the second-most wins with 50 and third is USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with 49 match wins. Brazil’s Talita actually has the third best winning percentage as well, having started the season with Taiana Lima before changing to Larissa. With Lima, who Talita won the FIVB World Tour point title with in 2014, the duo had a 23-7 match record (76.7%).
NEXT UP
The 2014 FIVB World tour concludes in South Africa with the double-gender $150,000 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$9.6 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 eight 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 had $1, 000,000 each in prize money, the most in FIVB Grand Slam history. The nine FIVB Open tournaments in 2014, six 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 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 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.