Antalya, Turkey, May 14, 2016 - The women’s “final four” matches here Saturday mid-day on the BeachPark center court at the US$150,000 Antalya Open will offer many interesting notes for each of the participating pairs from Argentina, Finland and Germany competing in the semi-final and medal round of the FIVB World Tour Beach Volleyball event.
The opening semi-final match features two German pairs where top-seeded Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst are challenged by seventh-seeded compatriots Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler. The second match has sixth-seeded Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug of Argentina meeting 15th-seeded Taru Lahti and Riikka Lehtonen of Finland.
The winners of the two matches will advance to the 4:45 p.m. (local time) gold medal match with Germany assured a least one spot on the podium while Finland will be seeking its first-ever men’s or women’s medal on the FIVB World Tour since the start of international-sanctioned events in 1987 for men and 1992 for women. Here are the notes.
LUDWIG/WALKENHORST
• Excluding Brazilians, Ludwig and Walkenhorst are the No. 1-ranked foreign pair on the provisional Rio 2016 Olympic ranking list as the pair has added at least 110 points to their point total at this week’s FIVB World Tour stop. With 150 Copacabana points still available, Ludwig and Walkenhorst could reach 6,000 as only Brazilians Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca (6,940) and Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas (6,870) have more points. Since Brazil has already secured its two berths in the Olympics via winning the 2015 world championships (Agatha/Barbara) and being the host country (Talita/Larissa), the Ludwig/Walkenhorst partnership ranks ahead of Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands (5,620) as the No. 1 foreign team with three more Rio qualifying events left in the United States (Cincinnati, May 17-21), Russia (Moscow May 24-29) and Germany (Hamburg, June 7-12).
• Ludwig and Walkenhorst will be seeking their fourth FIVB World Tour gold medal and 10th podium placement on the international circuit. The pair won a FIVB gold medal the past three seasons with podium topping performances in China (2014 Shanghai), Japan (2015 Yokohama) and Mexico (2015-2016 Puerto Vallarta). Ludwig and Walkenhorst are the reigning European champions after winning the crown last August in Klagenfurt, Austria.
Laura Ludwig (right) with a reception as Kira Walkenhorst follows the action
HOLTWICK/SEMMLER
• With only two pairs per country allowed in the Rio Olympic Games, Holtwick and Semmler are currently the third-ranked German team as the partnership has netted 4,720 points for their best 12 finishes since the start of the process is April 2015. Holtwick and Semmler start Saturday trailing Karla Borger and Britta Butte by 200 points. A semi-final win will add 100 points to their total. A gold medal finish will add another 50 points to the Holtwick/Semmler account. A bronze medal victory will net 50 points.
• Holtwick and Semmler will be seeking their third FIVB gold medal and 16th world tour podium placement. The pair won gold in Finland (2012 Åland) and Switzerland (2014 Gstaad).
Katrin Holtwick
GALLAY/KLUG
• With five-straight victories this week, Gallay and Klug have moved up a spot on the Rio provisional ranking list to No. 14 with only 15 pairs (maximum of two per country) qualifying for the Copacabana quadrennial event via the FIVB World Tour. The Argentineans now have 4,100 Rio points for their best 12 finishes to have a 10-point edge over No. 15 Fan Wang/Yue of China (4,090) and a 270-point lead over No. 16 Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia (3,830).
• Gallay and Klug will be seeking Argentina’s first-ever women’s FIVB World Tour gold medal as the pair has one silver medal to credit with a second-place finish last September at the Xiamen Open in China. It was Argentina’s only women’s podium placement on the FIVB World Tour.
Georgina Klug (left) and Ana Gallay
LAHTI/LEHTONEN
• Lahti and Lehtonen have also improved their Rio ranking this week (3,460), but trail No.15 Wang/Yue of China by 630 points with three events left.
• Lahti and Lehtonen are bidding to become the first-ever women’s or men’s team from Finland to win a medal at a FIVB World Tour event. In fact, Lahti and Lehtonen are the only tandem from their country to ever play in a world tour semi-final after reaching the “final four” last September in Sochi, Russia. The Nystrom twins (Emilia/Erika) did win a FIVB satellite event in 2003 at Le Lavandou, France.
Taru Lahti
HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETINGS
• The two German teams will meeting for the fourth-time on the FIVB World Tour with the last match being May 2014 when Holtwick and Semmler scored a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) semi-final win over Ludwig and Walkenhorst at the Prague Open. Ludwig and Walkenhorst lead the international series 2-1 after wins in 2013 at stops in China and Brazil.
• The Gallay/Klug vs. Lahti/Lehtonen match is the second international meeting with the Argentineans ironically winning a quarter-final match over the Fins in the 2015 Antalya Open - 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) in 38 minutes.
The Antalya Open also features men’s competition where three rounds of elimination bracket will be played Saturday. The men’s “final four” matches will be Sunday as the winning pairs in the Antalya Open will share the $11,000 first-place prizes.