Lucerne, Switzerland, May 17, 2015 - The men’s gold medal match here Sunday to conclude the competition for the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Lucerne Open 2015 will not be played as a knee injury for The Netherlands’ Robert Meeuwsen will force the Dutch to forfeit the title contest to Marco Caminati and Alex Ranghieri of Italy.
Seeded eighth in the US$150,000 Lucerne Open, Meeuwsen and partner Alexander Brouwer captured the first semi-final match Sunday by defeating 10th-seeded Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) in 38 minutes.
After returning to the player’s hotel to rest before the finale against the Italians, Meeuwsen felt he would risk further injury to his right knee if he continued in the competition. Part of his reasoning is due to being prepared for the start of the FIVB “senior” Beach Volleyball World Championships in The Netherlands (June 26-July 5) where Meeuwsen and Brouwer are the defending champions after claiming the title in 2013 in Stare Jablonki, Poland.
“I just did not want to risk any further injury to my right knee,” said the 27-year old Meeuwsen, who missed most of the early part of the 2014 season due to injuries. “We were looking forward to playing the Italians, but my knee just was not feeling right. Defending our world championship title at full-strength is my No. 1 goal.”
Due to the forfeit, Caminati and Ranghieri will be awarded the gold medal along with sharing the $11,000 first-place prize. By winning nine-straight matches this week, Caminati and Ranghieri become the eighth team since 2001 to win a FIVB World Tour gold medal after qualifying for the Main Draw.
“It is unfortunate about Meeuwsen’s knee problems,” said the 27-year old Ranghieri, who has now posted his best finish on the FIVB World Tour after posting a fourth at the 2013 German Grand Slam in Berlin. “Advancing to the finals to play the world champions was truly remarkable for us since we had to qualify for the Main Draw. It has been an amazing week for us and we are thrilled with our result.”
With the Italians being seeded 13th in the 32-team qualifier (27th in the 32-team Lucerne Open Main Draw), Caminati and Ranghieri are the lowest seeded qualifying team to win a FIVB World Tour gold medal. The Lucerne Open is the first FIVB event for Caminati/Ranghieri partnership.
Meeuwsen and Brouwer will finish second and split $8,000 for netting the silver medal. The silver medal finish is the second this season for the Dutch on the FIVB World Tour after Meeuwsen and Brouwer lost to a German team in the finals of the 2015 season-opening event in Fuzhou, China.
Qualifying teams netting gold medals:
• Stein Metzger/Kevin Wong, United States (Main Draw seed No. 7, Qualifying seed No. 3), Gstaad, June 24, 2001
• Rogerio 'Para' Ferreira/Pedro Cunha, Brazil (12, Q1), Carolina Beach, Puerto Rico, June 13, 2004 gold
• Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes, Brazil (7, Q1), Zagreb, Croatia, June 12, 2005
• Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil (4, Q1), St. Petersburg, Russia, September 2, 2007
• Kevin Wong/Casey Jennings, United States (21, Q1), The Hague, The Netherlands, August 29, 2010
• Vitor Felipe/Evandro Goncalves, Brazil (13, Q1), Berlin, Germany, August 10, 2013
• John Hyden/Tri Bourne, United States (27, Q7), Berlin, Germany, June 22, 2014
• Marco Caminati/Alex Ranghieri, Italy (27, Q13), Lucerne, Switzerland, May 17, 2015.
The gold medal forfeit is the third since 2002, but the first without the title match being played. The other two forfeits were in 2007 in Berlin (Germany forfeits to Brazil) and 2011 in Aland, Final (United States forfeits to Brazil).
• Berlin 2007 - Marcio Araujo / Fabio Luiz Magalhaes Brazil (3) def. David Klemperer / Eric Koreng Germany (24) 15-21, 21-16, 9-9 retired (1:14 duration)
• Aland 2011 - Marcio Araujo / Benjamin Insfran Brazil (5) def. Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers United States (1) 21-21 retired (0:22)