Lausanne, Switzerland, August 11, 2015 - With the withdrawal of four teams already placed in the Main Draw for next week's US$800,000 ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball in the United States, four pairs were moved up into the "money rounds" to avoid playing in next Tuesday's qualifier in southern California.
Officially starting Tuesday, the third annual ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball will be played on the TrueCar Court at Alamitos Beach in Long Beach. A total of 107 teams (58 men, 49 women) from 32 countries are still entered in the 10th men's and 11th women's event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour calendar.
With the withdrawal of men's teams from the ASICS Main Draw from France and Germany, the pairs of Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri of Italy and Theo Brunner/Sean Rosenthal of the United States advanced from the qualifying list to the “money” rounds. Replacing withdrawing teams from the Czech Republic and Germany in the women's Main Draw are Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany and Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland.
If there are no other withdrawals in the men's competition, country quota matches will be played Monday to finalize the lineup for Tuesday's qualifiers where eight teams from both gender's competition will advance to Wednesday's opening Main Draw rounds.
The 32-team Main Draws for both genders will feature pool play with the top three group finishers advancing to the elimination rounds. Pool winners are guaranteed a first-round “bye” in the knockout rounds when the 24-team elimination bracket begins August 21. The medal matches will be played August 23 with the winning teams sharing the $57,000 first-place prizes.
The ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball is the second of two events in the United States this season that are part of the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The first 2015 American Olympic qualifier was held in mid-June at St. Petersburg, Fla. Prior to the St. Petersburg Grand Slam, the last Olympic Beach Volleyball qualifying event in the United States was staged in September 2003 at Carson, Calif.
For the first-time since the start of FIVB-sanctioned Beach Volleyball events in 1987 for men and 1992 for women, the United States will hosts three FIVB World Tour events in a single-season. The $500,000 FIVB World Tour Finals, a non-points events, will be played September 29-October 4 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The top eight teams on both the men's and women's FIVB World Tour following the Olympic "test" event in Rio de Janeiro will qualify for event along with two "wild card" pairs per gender. A maximum of two teams per country per gender will qualify for the event where $100,000 first-place prizes will be awarded.
Following the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball, the final Grand Slam event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour will be played August 25-30 in Olsztyn, Poland. The “test” event for the Rio 2016 Olympics will be staged on September 2-6 at exactly the same location for the Summer Games’ Beach Volleyball competition on Copacabana Beach.
Prior to returning to the United States for the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals in Fort Lauderdale, the international circuit will stage “open” tournaments in Russia (Sochi, September 8-13) and China (Xiamen, September 22-27).
Here are the Main Draw entries for the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball (current FIVB World Tour ranking):
Men• Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh, Australia (T24)
• Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria (5)
• Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil (1)
• Evandro Gonçalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil (2)
• Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, Brazil (10)
• Chaim Schalk/Ben Saxton, Canada (8)
• Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter, Canada (13)
• Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, Chile (32)
• Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany (16)
• Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo, Italy (12)
• Matteo Ingrosso/Paolo Ingrosso, Italy (23)
• Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri, Italy (T27)
• Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia (T27)
• Juan Virgen/Lombardo Ontiveros, Mexico (21)
• Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands (4)
• Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands (3)
• Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland (11)
• Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz, Poland (33)
• Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnikov, Russia (14)
• Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira, Spain (7)
• Jacob Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States (6)
• John Hyden/Tri Bourne, United States (15)
• Theo Brunner/Sean Rosenthal, United States (NR)
• Nicholas Lucena/Philip Dalhausser, United States (NR)
Women• Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, Australia (5)
• Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, Brazil (1)
• Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli, Brazil (3)
• Larissa França/Talita Antunes, Brazil (4)
• Liliane Maestrini/Carolina Horta, Brazil (T27)
• Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada (2)
• Kristina Valjas/Jamie Lynn Broder, Canada (6)
• Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China (13)
• Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany (7)
• Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude, Germany (11)
• Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany (16)
• Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, Italy (15)
• Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands (9)
• Kinga Kolosinska/Monika Brzostek, Poland (17)
• Ekaterina Birlova/Evgenia Ukolova, Russia (18)
• Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova, Slovak Republic (22)
• Liliana Fernández/Elsa Baquerizo, Spain (12)
• Nadine Zumkehr/Joana Heidrich, Switzerland (19)
• Isabella Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland (23)
• April Ross/Kerri Walsh, United States (30)
• Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, United States (14)
• Jennifer Kessy/Emily Day, United States (21)
• Jennifer Fopma/Brittany Hochevar, United States (NR)
• Miller Pata/Linline Matauatu, Vanuatu (T33)