Porec, Croatia, June 2, 2015 - Beach Volleyball power Brazil took center stage here Tuesday in the men’s competition for the Porec Major where pairs from Austria, Germany and United States joined the South American country in advancing to Wednesday’s qualifier in the inaugural SWATCH Major Series event.
Being played in the heart of the colorful Croatian coastal city on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, three Brazilian teams competed for the final qualifying spot for the South Americans in the 32-team qualifier that will set the field for Thursday’s “money” rounds in the fourth men’s event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour calendar.
For the second-straight week, Vitor Felipe and Alvaro Filho captured the Brazilian country playoff. Last week in Moscow, Vitor and Alvaro defeated Bruno de Paula and Hevaldo Moreira in three sets for the qualifying spot. This week, Vitor and Alvaro ousted Marcio Araujo and Saymon Barbosa 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) in 38 minutes.
Marcio Araujo, a 2005 FIVB world champion and Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medal winner, and Barbosa earned a shot for the final Brazilian spot by defeating Bruno and Hevaldo 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-12) in 50 minutes in an opening match Tuesday. The win avenged a country quota setback in Moscow to Bruno and Hevaldo.
Also advancing from Tuesday’s competition to Wednesday’s schedule were Peter Eglseer/Daniel Mullner of Austria, Armin Dollinger/Clemens Wickler of Germany and Theo Brunner/Nick Lucena of the United States. Brunner and Lucena also won their second-straight country quota playoff match over Will Montgomery and Jeremy Casebeer.
The US$800,000 Porec Major marks the return of the international Beach Volleyball circuit to Croatia where the country’s capital of Zagreb hosted men’s events in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes captured the inaugural Zagreb event and placed fourth in the final tournament in 2008.
Legendary Brazilians Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, who will start playing Thursday in the Porec Major, captured the 2009 Zagreb title and placed third in 2008. Emanuel and Ricardo are the winningest team in the history of the FIVB World Tour with 33 gold medals in 90 starts together.
With the women starting Main Draw play Wednesday and their finals Saturday, the men’s quarter-finals will be played Saturday followed by their semi- finals and medal matches on Sunday. The winning teams in both genders will share the $57,000 first-place prizes along with gathering 800 “valuable” points that will help determine the field for the season-ending SWATCH Major Series event in the United States at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
As the host nation, Croatia has two men’s teams in the Main Draw and a third in the qualification tournament. Croatia’s “money” rounds teams are Niksa Dellorco/Ivan Djordjevic and Filip Silic/Ivan Zeljkovic. Competing in the qualifier seeking two wins to advance to the Main Draw for Croatia is Marin Jercic/Kresimir Karaula.
Other prominent teams in the Porec Major are the “final four” teams from last week’s Moscow even where Emanuel and Ricardo placed fifth. Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain topped the Moscow Grand Slam podium by defeating Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Salgado of Brazil in the two-set gold medal match. Evandro and Pedro eliminated Emanuel and Ricardo in a “classic” quarter-final match in Moscow.
Germany denied Brazil a second spot on the Russian capital podium as Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik defeated Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt for the Russian bronze medal.
Following this and next week’s SWATCH Major Series event in Norway, the FIVB World Tour crosses the Atlantic Ocean for an event in the United States in St. Petersburg, Fla. The June schedule ends with the start of the world championships in The Netherlands. Reigning FIVB world champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands are entered this week.