The Hague, Netherlands, April 14, 2015 – With the 2015 FIVB World Tour set to begin next week in China, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) is preparing to make history this year with the most unique and memorable event it has ever produced.
This summer’s 10th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, to be held in four cities in the Netherlands, is bringing together the world’s top professionals from 40 nations with some astonishing notes and special statistics.
FormatWith a total of 96 tandems (48 in each gender), two-person teams will be competing for part of a $1 million purse as the Netherlands hosts an FIVB international event for the sixth consecutive year. Anchored in The Hague round-robin Pool Play will be played in The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam along with the first two rounds of elimination play for the 32l teams remaining per gender following three rounds of pool play. The semifinals and finals for each gender will be played on the stadium court in The Hague. The event will run from June 26-July 5.
Hot ticketsWith sales rapidly increasing, tickets for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015 are available for purchase at: netherlands2015.fivb.org/en/tickets.
2015 FIVB World TourWith seven significant events played prior to June 26, starting next Tuesday with the FIVB Fuzhou Open in China and ending in mid-December, the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar will include five FIVB Grand Slams, the new FIVB Swatch Major Series of three events, six FIVB Opens and a special Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final in the United States. The showcase event will be the $1 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.
Women’s notes and special statsBefore the FIVB World Tour understandably starts grabbing most of the headlines next week, here is a detailed look at some of the interesting items from the women’s field in this year’s FIVB World Championships.
Women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships notes
A total of 48 teams from 29 countries will be participating in the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
• Host Netherlands will have four teams in the competition along with Brazil and Germany.
• Switzerland and the United States will have three teams each.
• Australia, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Slovak Republic will have two teams each.
• Eighteen (18) countries with one team each in the competition are Algeria, Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Uruguay, Vanuatu and Venezuela.
Led by the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), all five FIVB confederations will have entries in the competition.
• A total of 20 teams of nine CEV countries will be represented in the competition, including the Czech Republic (2 teams), Germany (4), Italy (1), The Netherlands (4), Poland (2), Russia (1), the Slovak Republic (2), Spain (1) and Switzerland (3).
• The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) will have nine teams from six countries, including Canada (2), Costa Rica (1), Cuba (1), Guatemala (1), Mexico (1) and the United States (3).
• The Confederation South America Volleyball (CSV) will have eight teams from five countries, including Argentina (1), Brazil (4), Paraguay (1), Uruguay (1) and Venezuela (1).
• The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) will have seven teams for five countries, including Australia (2), China (2), Kazakhstan (1), Thailand (1) and Vanuatu (1).
• The Confederation African Volleyball (CAVB) will have four teams from four countries, including Algeria, (1), Morocco (1), Nigeria (1) and South Africa (1).
Women's roster notes
The current average age for the field is 27 years old.
• The oldest players in the field are Martina Turnerova (40) of the Slovak Republic and Vitalina Nel (39) of South Africa.
• The oldest teams (combined age) will be Martina Turnerova (40)/Gabrela Tomasekova (31) of the Slovak Republic (71) and April Ross (32)/Kerri Walsh Jennings (36) of the United States (68).
• The youngest players in the field are both from Paraguay - Michelle Valiente (16, who will be 17 during the world championships) and Erika Bobadilla (18). Other teenagers in the field are Xinyi Xia (18) of China and Maria A Orellana (19) of Guatemala.
The average height is 5-foot-11 (180 cm).
• The tallest players in the field are both 6-foot-5 (196 cm) - Bibiana Candelas of Mexico and Sarah Pavan of Canada. Both players played college volleyball in the United States. Pavan was a four-time all-American (2006-2009) at Nebraska. Candelas played at USC (2002-2005) where she played two seasons with April Ross.
• The shortest player in the field at 5-foot-4 (162 cm) is Maria J Orellana of Guatemala.
Isabelle Forrer of Switzerland will be starting her 16th season of international Beach Volleyball competition. Germany's Katrin Holtwick, and Americans Jennifer Kessy and Kerri Walsh Jennings will be starting their 15th season.
Women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships participation notes
Fifteen (15) of the 48 teams entered in the competition have competed in previous FIVB World Championships led by three participations by Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany.
• Two-time FIVB World Championship participants are Elsa Baqueirizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain and Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic.
• Teams with at least one appearance together in the FIVB World Championships are Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy of Australia, Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan of Canada, Martina Bonnerova/Barbora Hermannova of the Czech Republic, Germans Karla Borger/Britta Buthe and Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Tatyana Mashkova/Irina Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan, Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska of Poland, Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova of the Slovak Republic, the Swiss pairs of Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, Tanja Goricanec/Tanja Huberli and Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr, and Julaluk Radarong/Manerat Udomchavee of Thailand.
Of the current 94 entries for the competition, 59 have previous experience in the FIVB World Championships.
• Brazilians Juliana Felisberta and Larissa Franca, Germany's Laura Ludwig and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States have appeared in five previous FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
• Rebekka Kadijk of The Netherlands competed in the most women’s world champions with eight appearances.
• Players with four appearances in previous world championships are Talita Antunes of Brazil, Chen Xue of China, Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland, and Americans Jennifer Kessy and April Ross.
• In addition to Germany’s Holtwick/Semmler, players with appearances in three previous world championships are Maria Antonelli of Brazil, Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands and Lauren Fendrick of the United States.
• Juliana, Larissa and Walsh Jennings have netted four FIVB World Championship medals in their five previous appearances. Walsh Jennings' podium placements were earned with Misty May-Treanor as the Americans captured has three gold medals (2003, 2005 and 2007) and one silver medal (2011).
• Juliana and Larissa won the 2011 world championships in Rome while placing second in 2005 and 2009, and third in 2007.
• China's Chen Xue captured the 2013 world title with Xi Zhang while the former teammates placed third in 2011.
• Kessy /Ross captured the 2009 world title while Ross placed fourth in the 2013 championships with Whitney Pavlik.
• Talita/Antonelli duo was third in the 2009 FIVB World Championships.
• Germans Karla Borger/Britta Buthe netted the silver medal at the 2013 FIVB World Championships.
Women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour participation notes
• Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany have won the most medals (15) and advanced to the most "final fours" (19) of the 48 teams competing in the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. The Germans have won four titles, placed second five times and finished third six times. Holtwick and Semmler topped the podium once in 2014.
• The tandems of Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta of Brazil and April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States have six podium placements each on the FIVB World Tour. All six of Ross/Walsh Jennings finishes resulted in gold medals. Antonelli/Juliana captured one gold medal along with four silvers and one bronze.
• Walsh Jennings, Larissa and Juliana rank as the all-time leaders on the world tour.
• Walsh Jennings and Larissa have each won 50 FIVB World Tour gold medals.
• Juliana ranks third with 47.
• Partnership wise, Juliana and Larissa teamed for a record 45 gold medals together (108 events with 82 podium placements and 87 “final four” finishes) on the world tour
• Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor won 40 titles together (77 events with 60 podium placements and 63 “final four” finishes).
• Two-time winners on the FIVB World Tour are Xinyi Xia/Chen Xue of China (at the end of the 2013 season) and Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic in 2014.
• The teams of Talita Antunes/Larissa of Brazil and Ross/Walsh Jennings won four world tour gold medals each in 2014.
• Other event winners from last season that are competing in the 2015 FIVB World Championships are Germans Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst and Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas and Fernanda Alves/Taiana Lima, and Martina Bonnerova/Barbora Hermannova of the Czech Republic.
Women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball Age Group World Championships
• The team of Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird from Australia is the reigning FIVB Beach Volleyball Under-23 World Champions.
• Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes/Taylor Pischke captured the bronze medals at the past two under-23 FIVB World Championships.
• Marleen Van Iersel, a two-time winner on the FIVB World Tour, was one of the most competitive players in the age group FIVB World Championships. She appeared in nine age-group worlds with four podium placements and six “final four” finishes. She captured the FIVB under-21 World Championships with Danielle Remmers in 2008.
• Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska of Poland won the 2009 FIVB under-21 World Championships.
• Other women with FIVB age-group World Championships to their career are Juliana Felisberta, Taiana Lima and Barbara Seixas of Brazil, Laura Ludwig and Chantal Laboureur of Germany, Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland.
• Seixas is a three-time FIVB Age Group World Champion with two under-21 crowns (2006 with Carolina Aragao and 2007 with Liliane Mastrini), and an under-19 title (2005 with Aragao).
• Lima, a six-time winner on the FIVB World Tour, won FIVB under-21 World Championships with Juliana in 2002 and Carolina Salgado in 2004.
• Heidrich and Verge-Depre won back-to-back under-21 titles in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Nina Betschart was the partner in both championship runs.
• Ludwig on the under-18 world title in 2003 with Jana Kohler.
• Laboureur topped the under-19 world podium in 2008 with Levke Springer in competition in The Hague.
Women's tournaments in the Netherlands
FIVB World Tour events have been staged five times in The Netherlands with Brazilian women's teams capturing each gold medal.
• Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca topped the podium in The Hague in 2009 and 2011.
• Talita Antunes captured gold in 2010 with Maria Antonelli and 2013 with Taiana Lima. Talita and Antonelli were second in 2009 and third in 2011.
• Fernanda Alves and Lima won the 2014 by defeating Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany in the finals with Antonelli/Juliana third.
• Holtwick and Semmler were third in 2013.
• Kerri Walsh Jennings and Missy May-Treanor captured the 2011 silver medal.