Vienna, Austria, July 31, 2017 - Led by teams from Brazil and the Czech Republic, eight women’s pairs from six countries secured pool titles here on Monday during the fourth of 10 days of competition at the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by A1.
Brazilian pairs netting group titles were ninth-seeded Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado (Pool I) and 32nd-seeded Taiana Lima/Eliza Maia (Pool H) while the Czech cluster winners were sixth-seeded Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova (Pool F) and 13th-seeded Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova (Pool L).
Other pool winners Monday were fourth-seeded Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany (Pool D), seventh-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada (Pool G), 10th-seeded Nina Betschart/Tanja Hüberli of Switzerland (Pool J) and 14th-seeded Lauren Fendrick/April Ross of the United States (Pool K).
The other four group titles will be decided on Tuesday with two other Brazilian pairs leaders, including top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca in Pool A and third-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa in Pool C. Brazil swept all three podiums spots at the 2015 FIVB World Championships in the Netherlands where Agatha and Barbara Seixas defeated Fernanda Alves and Lima in the finals with Antonelli and Juliana Felisberta placing third.
Fifth-seeded Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat of the United States are alone atop Pool E with a 2-0 match mark while Pool B will be decided in a match of unbeatens between second-seeded Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany and 23rd-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Amaranta Navarro of Spain.
The $1-million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by A1 will feature 24 pool play matches (16 men and eight women) and four women’s elimination matches on three courts on Tuesday at the state-of-the art venue at Donauinsel.
A total of 216-matches will be contested over a 10-day period at the World Championships where the winning men’s and women’s teams will each split the $60,000 first-place prizes. The women’s medal matches will be played on August 5 and the men’s on August 6. With 96 teams from 40 countries in the competition, pool play highlights the first six days of play with the featured court being the 10,000-seat Red Bull Beach Arena.
