2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour update after FIVB Moscow Grand Slam

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 1, 2015 — After visiting Russia for the first of two stops in 2015, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will see its 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour  in Croatia this week with the US$800,000 Swatch FIVB Porec Major, the first of three double-gender on the 2015 competition calendar that are part of the new Swatch FIVB Major Series within the FIVB World Tour. Last week the 2015 FIVB World Tour held the $800,000 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam, the first of five FIVB Grand Slams on the 2015 calendar.

MOSCOW MEN
In the men’s competition last week in Russia, winning the gold medal against a strong field with a 6-1 record was Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera. The Spaniards won the gold in straight sets over Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Salgado, 21-19, 21-19 in 43 minutes. It was Gavira’s first career FIVB gold medal on the world tour and the third for Herrera. Earning the bronze medal was Germany’s Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, 21-19, 21-17 over Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt.

MOSCOW WOMEN
In the women’s competition, Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca continued their 2014 season success by defeating Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel in two sets, 21-17, 21-14 in 40 minutes to win their fifth gold medal in just seven events as a team on the FIVB World Tour. It was the 23rd FIVB career gold medal for Talita and the 51st for Larissa, making her the FIVB career leader in the category. Larissa also moved into the career lead in FIVB World Tour winnings with 1,480,735 over her 13-season career. In the bronze medal match, Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth came from behind to defeat China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, 14-21, 21-19 and 16-14 in 55 minutes.

MEN’S WINNERS SHARE
Last week’s FIVB Moscow Grand Slam men’s champions Gavira/Herrera of Spain earned 800 points on the FIVB World Tour and picked up the gold medal purse of $57,000. Brazil’s Goncalves/Salgado, earned 720 valuable points in the FIVB World Tour Rankings as well as earning $43,000 in prize money.

WOMEN’S WINNERS ROLL
Last week’s FIVB Moscow Grand Slam women’s champions Talita/Larissa of Brazil also earned 800 points on the FIVB World Tour and also picked up the gold medal purse of $57,000. Netherlands’ runner-up duo of Meppelink/Van Iersel earned 720 valuable points in the FIVB World Tour Rankings as well picking up the $43,000 purse to split from their silver medal placement.

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 2015 FIVB World Tour. After three events, with two silver medals this year, Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen lead the tour points with 1,380 and are third in earnings with $33,000. Spain’s Gavira/Herrera are second in points with 1,100 and lead in earnings with $60,375. In a five-way tie for third with 720 points each are Brazil’s Goncalves/Salgado, Canada’s Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter, Italy’s Matteo Ingrosso/Paolo Ingrosso, Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen and Venezuela’s Jackson Henriquez/Jesus Villafane.

In the 2015 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings, second behind Spain’s Gavira/Herrera with $43,000, fourth is Germany’s Erdmann/Matysik with $32,000 and fifth is Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with $24,000.

WOMEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
For the women, Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude duo is at the top of the point list with 1,350 with Canada’s Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas tandem second with 1,320 points and third is Netherlands’ Meppelink/Van Iersel.

In the 2015 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings, leading is Bazil’s Talita/Larissa with $57,000, second is Netherlands’ Meppelink/Van Iersel with $51,000 and third is Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth with $32,000.

MEN’S FINAL FOURS
In three men’s tournament so far in 2015 on the FIVB World Tour, nine countries have at least one final four placement. Tied with two final four placements are Brazil (one silver, one fourth place), Germany (one gold, one bronze) and the Netherlands (two silver medals) and with one each are France (one bronze), Italy (one gold), Switzerland (one fourth place), Spain (one gold), Turkey (one bronze) and the United States (one fourth place).

WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS
In four women’s event so far this year, six countries have earned at least one final four finish.  Leading is Brazil with four placements (two gold, one bronze, one fourth place). Second with three placements is Canada (one gold medal, one silver, one bronze) while tied with two final fours each are Germany (one gold, one silver), China (two fourth places) and Netherlands (two silver) and with one each are Italy (one bronze), Switzerland (one fourth place) and the United States (one bronze).

MEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after three events, Italy’s Marco Caminati/Alex Ranghieri is at a perfect 100.0% winning percentage, with a 9-0 record in their one tournament. Germany’s Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen is second at 7-1 (87.5%) and their Germany compatriots Erdmann/Matysik have a 6-1 mark (85.7%). After their Moscow gold medal, fourth is Spain’s Gavira/Herrera with a 10-2 record (83.3%), fifth is Netherlands’ Brouwer/Meeuwsen with a 16-4 record (80.0%) and sixth is Turkey’s Murat Giginoglu/Volkan Gogtepe with a 7-2 record (77.8%). Netherlands’ Brouwer/Meeuwsen duo has the most match wins with 16 and second with 10 is Spain’s Gavira/Herrera.

WOMEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
For the women to date, following four events on the 2015 FIVB World Tour, leading is a Brazilian trifecta. Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas lead with a 10-1 record (90.9%) with their Brazilian compatriots Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca second with a 6-1 record (85.7%) and third is Brazil’s Eduarda Lisboa/Elize Maia with a 14-3 record (82.4%). Tied for fourth with an 80% winning percentage are Netherlands’ Meppelink/Van Iersel with a 12-3 record and Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe with a 8-2 mark.

Canada’s Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas tandem has the most match wins so far with 18 (18-6), second is Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with 17 (17-7) and third is Brazil’s Carolina Horta/Liliane Maestrini with 16 (16-10).

ON THE HORIZON
Following this week’s first of three Swatch FIVB Major Series events on the 2015 calendar with the $800,000 Swatch FIVB Porec Major in Croatia, June’s spectacular schedule continues with the $800,000 Swatch FIVB Stavanger Major in Norway-June 8-14 followed by a trip to Florida in the United States for the $800,000 FIVB St. Petersburg Grand Slam (June 15-21).

The dynamic month of beach volleyball will conclude with the $1,000,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands (June 26-July 5) being anchored in The Hague with pool play and the first two rounds of single-elimination also being played in Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam.

GROWING HISTORY
The Swatch FIVB Porec Major will be the 318th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 282nd FIVB women’s tournament since they started competition in 1992.

FIVB 2015
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2015 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 20 venues in 15 countries. The schedule includes five FIVB Grand Slams, the new Swatch FIVB Major Series of four events, six FIVB Opens and a special Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final in the United States. A showcase event will be the $1 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.

The Olympic qualification process begins in 2015 with all FIVB World Tour events (except the FIVB World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine 15 spots for each gender that will take part in each 24-team field in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

FIVB WORLD TOUR PURSES
The FIVB Grand Slam and Swatch FIVB Major Series competitions, all double-gender each have $800,000 in total purses. The total purse FIVB World Championships the Netherlands 2015 will be $1,000,000 and $500,000 total for the Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final which will feature the top eight teams in each gender.

The nine FIVB Open tournaments in 2015, seven double-gender, one men only and one women only, will have $150,000 total purses for the double gender events and $75,000 for the single-gender competitions. The gold medal teams in each gender at FIVB Open tournaments will each split $11,000, the silver $8,000, the bronze $6,000 and fourth place $4,500.

FIVB EVENT FORMAT
Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds. Country Quota playoffs will return as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.