Porec, Croatia, June 5, 2015 - After winning a pool play match Friday at the Porec Major, American Sean Rosenthal revealed that regular partner Phil Dalhausser will miss the upcoming FIVB "senior" World Championships in the Netherlands.
Dalhausser, who captured the gold medal with Todd Rogers at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, tore his left oblique during the first set of match last week at the Moscow Grand Slam. Dalhausser completed the match with Rosenthal against a German team and said he probably made the injury worse by playing through it and underwent an MRI in Moscow.
“Phil is out and will not return until mid-July for the event in Japan ,” said Rosenthal in a video interview Friday at the Porec Major. "It is clear, he can't play in the world championships."
Rosenthal, who is currently playing with Stafford Slick for the next two FIVB World Tour events in Norway and the United States (St. Petersburg), is uncertain of Dalhausser's replacement for the world championships that will be played at four sites in The Netherlands. The event starts June 26 and concludes July 5 with the men's medal matches in The Hague.
At this week's Porec Major, the inaugural event on the SWATCH Major Series, Rosenthal and Slick placed 17th by winning one of four matches. The Americans upset Germans Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik 2-1 (13-21, 21-19, 15-11) in a 52-minute pool play match Friday to advance to the elimination bracket where Rosenthal and Slick were ousted by Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri of Italy 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) in 38 minutes.