Lausanne, Switzerland, June 1, 2016 — After completing eight consecutive tournaments over eight straight weeks, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) has one week off from competition and takes another quick look at some of the significant stats from its 2016 US$8.8 million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Last week the FIVB World Tour stop was the double-gender $800,000 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam in Russia, the second event held in Russia this season. The FIVB World Tour, currently nearing the end of the Olympic qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games that ends June 13 has a week to rest and recover before next week’s double-gender $800,000 Swatch FIVB Hamburg Major Series in Germany. The internationally-televised Swatch FIVB Hamburg Major Series will be played at the Tennis Stadium Hamburg Rothenbaum.
smart Major Hamburg
Men - Entry ListWomen - Entry ListMen - Event ScheduleWomen - Event ScheduleThrough 2015, Germany has hosted a total of 24 FIVB World Tour events (15 men, 9 women) with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders. In the men’s totals after 15 events, Brazil has 19 medals, followed by the USA with five, Germany and Switzerland with four each, Argentina, Norway and Spain with three each, Australia with two and with one men’s medal each in Germany are Canada and Russia.
After nine FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Russia through the 2015 season, Brazil leads the medal parade with nine total medals followed by the USA with seven, China with four, Germany with two and with one women’s medal each are Australia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Italy and Japan.
While this is the first FIVB World Tour event to be held in Hamburg, the CEV has presented three men’s and three women’s events on the European Federation tour. The most recent one for each gender was 2008.
With 15 men’s and 12 women’s tournaments now completed on the 2016 FIVB World Tour, here are some tantalizing tidbits from last week’s FIVB Moscow Grand Slam in Russia that are from the scrumptious succulent smorgasbord of superb special selections on the FIVB Beach Volleyball menu:
• FIVB World Championships Revenge – The men’s final of the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam featured a rematch of the gold-medal match from the 2015 FIVB World Championships in The Hague, won by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt over Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands. Of the 10 FIVB World Championships, from 1997 through 2015, this is only the second time that an FIVB World Tour gold-medal match has been a rematch of a previous FIVB World Championship final. It occurred back in 2001 at the Brisbane Open when Brazil’s Jose Loiola/Ricardo Santos avenged their loss in the 2001 FIVB World Championships, held in Klagenfurt, to Mariano Baracetti/Martin Conde of Argentina. The Argentinians won in Austria, 25-23, 12-21, and 20-18 in one hour seven minutes, but the Brazilians won in Australia, 21-14 and 21-13 in just 35 minutes. The FIVB Moscow Grand Slam finals were also revenge for the Dutch duo, winning 21-19, 7-21, and 17-15 in 48 minutes after losing the previous season in The Hague by a score of 12-21, 21-14, and 22-20 in 54 minutes.
• Another Pair of 23s – Coming into the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam, the high score for the third set of a men’s match on the FIVB World Tour 2016 Calendar was 23, achieved two times on April 5th at the Doha Open. At the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam, it happened twice more on consecutive days. The first was on May 25th when Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen of Mexico scored a 17-21, 21-19, and 23-21 three-set win over Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai in 53 minutes. The following day, it occurred again when Brazil’s Vitor Felipe/Alvaro Filho defeated Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands, 21-19, 15-21, and 23-21 in one hour and three minutes.
• Men’s Players with Best Finish in Moscow – There were no men’s players who enjoyed their best main draw finish at the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.
• Men’s Top Rookies for 2016 – In order to qualify as a rookie, a player must not have participated in an FIVB World Tour main draw from a previous season. In the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam, the top men’s rookie finisher was Latvia’s Edgars Tocs who finished 25th for 80 points to move into the season rookie point lead. Other top finishers were Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar of Estonia, Oleksiy Denin of Ukraine, Ingars Ivanovs of Latvia, Petr Bakhnar and Dmitrii Odintsov of Russia, and Italy’s Davide Boncompagni and Valerio Del Carpio who each finished 41st to earn 20 points. The men have now held 15 events on the 2016 FIVB World Tour Calendar. This stat will be updated after each event to track the progress of the top new players.
o Edgars Tocs, Latvia, 685 points
o Christian Sorum, Norway, 630
o Hasan Mermer, Turkey, 455
o Sefa Urlu, Turkey, 455
o Ahmed Tijan, Qatar, 335
o Mark Burik, United States, 325
o Stefan Basta, Serbia, 300
o Lazar Kolaric, Serbia, 300
o Kristoffer Abell, Denmark, 280
o George Wanderley, Brazil, 270
• The First Final Four Loss for Talita/Larissa – Since forming their partnership in the middle of the 2014 season, Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca have played in 20 FIVB World Tour events. In six of those events, they’ve lost in the second knockout round to finish ninth and one other time, they lost in the quarterfinals to finish in fifth place. The other 12 times before the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam, the Brazilian duo made the final four and won all 12 gold medals, a perfect 24-0 in final four matches. After making Canada’s Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan their 25th victim in the semifinals in Moscow, they ran into the duo of April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings from the United States. Talita and Larissa had already faced the Americans two times previously, both times in gold-medal matches and had won both times. This time however, Ross/Walsh Jennings were the victors, 22-20 and 21-17, stopping the 25-match final-four streak. The streak is the second longest in FIVB World Tour history behind Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor, who won 27 straight final four matches, starting with the FIVB Marseille Grand Slam in July, 2003 and finally stopped by Larissa and Juliana Felisberta in the gold-medal match of the FIVB Acapulco Open in October, 2005. That match was the highest scoring women’s match ever in FIVB World Tour history with 164 points, 26-28, 42-40, and 13-15 in one hour and 40 minutes.
• 75th Final Four for Talita – The FIVB Moscow Grand Slam was the 75th FIVB World Tour Final Four for Talita, but it was a bittersweet diamond jubilee anniversary for the Brazilian. She and Larissa won their semifinal match to make the gold-medal final, and in the process moved past the duo of Austria’s Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger into fifth place in all-time FIVB World Tour women’s team winnings with $712,000 in just 20 tournaments. If Talita could win the final with Larissa, she would accomplish one more major milestone, surpassing fellow Brazilian, Shelda Bede, and move into fourth place all-time in women’s individual FIVB World Tour winnings. However, the South American pair lost in the finals, leaving her just $1,233 behind Shelda and having to wait for her next event to move ahead of her compatriot.
• 100th Final Four for Juliana – While Talita was celebrating her 75th final four, another Brazilian, Juliana, was marking her 100th. Talita’s was bittersweet with one win and one loss, but Juliana’s was an unhappy platinum jubilee celebration, losing both her semifinal match to the Americans Ross/Walsh Jennings and then the bronze medal match to the Canadians, Bansley/Pavan, missing the podium to finish fourth. In Juliana’s 100 FIVB World Tour final fours, she has won the gold medal 47 times, silver 26 times, bronze 19 times, and failed to make the podium in just eight of those events.
• Highest Scoring Women’s Match of the Season – The FIVB Moscow Grand Slam featured the most points scored in a women’s match of the season with 136, tying for the 15th longest of all time. The one-hour and 16 minute marathon occurred in the first knockout round when 25th seed Taru Lahti/Riikka Lehtonen of Finland battled past Italy’s 15th seed Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, 25-27, 23-21, and 21-19. It is the highest scoring match since 136 points were scored in a pool play match at the 2014 FIVB Gstaad Grand Slam, won by Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands over Austria’s Barbara Hansel/Stefanie Schwaiger, 29-31, 21-13, and 22-20 in one hour and two minutes.
• Women’s Players with Best Finish in Moscow – Here are the women’s players who enjoyed their best main draw finish at the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam:
o Player, Country, Finish, Previous Best
o Viktoryia Shalayeuskaya, Belarus, 25th, 33rd (two times)
o Viktoryia Siakretava, Belarus, 25th, 33rd (two times)
• Women’s Top Rookies for 2016 – In the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam, the top women’s rookie finishers were Viktoryia Shalayeuskaya and Viktoryia Siakretava of Belarus who each finished 25th for 80 points. Other rookie top finishers were Anne Lie Rininsland of Sweden and Indre Sorokaite of Italy, who both finished 33rd for 40 points. The women have now held 12 events on the 2016 FIVB World Tour Calendar. This stat will be updated after each event to track the progress of the top new players.
o Chunxia Chen, China, 265 points
o Maria Julia Benet, Argentina, 215
o Anne Lie Rininsland, Sweden, 205
o Rebecca Perry, Italy, 185
o Valentyna Davidova, Ukraine, 180
o Dunja Gerson, Switzerland, 180
o Ievgeniia Shchypkova, Ukraine, 180
o Elizaveta Zayonchkovskaya, Russia, 175
o Rebeca Pazo, Venezuela, 150
o Esra Cetin, Turkey, 140
o Merve Nezir, Turkey, 140
ON THE HORIZON
With placement points for the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continuing, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour has completed eight straight weeks of tournaments. In all, Brazil is hosting five international events in 2016. In addition to Maceió, Rio, Vitoria and Fortaleza, the Brazil events conclude with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Aug. 6-18).
The FIVB World Tour will finish its Olympic qualifying next week with the double-gender $800,000 Swatch FIVB Hamburg Major Series to be held in Germany (June 7-12). After Hamburg, remaining 2016 FIVB World Tour events prior to the Rio Olympics will be the FIVB Olsztyn Grand Slam in Poland (June 14-19) ), and three more Swatch FIVB Major Series events. First will be the Swatch FIVB Porec Major Series in Croatia (June 28-July 3), followed by the Swatch FIVB Gstaad Major Series in Switzerland (July 5-9) and the Swatch FIVB Klagenfurt Major Series in Austria (July 26-31).
GROWING HISTORY
The Swatch FIVB Hamburg Major Series in Germany will be the 345th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 306th FIVB women’s tournament since their competition started in 1992.
FIVB 2016
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar featured a purse of US$8.8 million with a season that extended from last October to this October, competing at 23 venues in 13 countries. The schedule includes five FIVB Grand Slams, three Swatch FIVB Major Series events, 14 FIVB Opens and the special Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals in the United States. The showcase event will be the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil (Aug. 6-18).
The 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar started in October in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and included two more open events prior to the remainder of the schedule resuming at the FIVB Kish Island Open in Iran in February.
ROAD TO RIO
The Olympic qualification process began in 2015 with all FIVB World Tour events (except the Swatch 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 Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Copacabana Beach in Brazil in August. Next week’s Swatch FIVB Hamburg Major Series is the last remaining tournament on the Olympic qualifying calendar for the 2016 FIVB World Tour.
FIVB WORLD TOUR PURSES
The four FIVB Grand Slam and four Swatch FIVB Major Series competitions in 2016, all double-gender, each have $800,000 in total purses. The total of $500,000 will be the purse for the Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final which will feature the top eight teams in each gender and two wild card teams.
The 14 FIVB Open tournaments on 2016 calendar, 11 double-gender, and three men’s only, 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 Grand Slam and Swatch FIVB Major Series events split $57,000, the silver $43,000, the bronze $32,000 and fourth place $24,000. The gold medal teams in each gender at FIVB Open tournaments 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 returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.