Lausanne, Switzerland, June 21, 2015 - The build up to the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015 is complete as Dutch and Brazilian pairs will lead the planet’s best teams into the Netherlands at the end of the week when competition starts at four sites in the European country.
Reigning world champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands will enter the $1 million FIVB World Championships as the top men’s team with compatriots Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst listed fourth in the FIVB World Tour ranking list behind Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg of Brazil and Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain.
All, but Nummerdor/Varenhorst, have won titles this season. The Dutch pair missed an opportunity Saturday at the United States Grand Slam Sunday in St. Petersburg by losing the gold medal match to Americans Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson in three sites.
The title for Gibb and Patterson lifted them into the No. 8 spot in the FIVB World Tour rankings behind Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst of Austria, Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter of Canada and Ricardo Santos/Emanuel Rego of Brazil.
The women’s competition has two teams each from Brazil, Canada and Germany ranked among the top six pairs on the 2015 FIVB World Tour ranking list. The Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink and Marleen Van Iersel are listed No. 8 behind Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany and Australia’s Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy.
Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas form the top women’s team on the FIVB World Tour as the Brazilians captured their second international gold medal this season by winning the United States Grand Slam Sunday in St. Petersburg after defeating compatriots Maria Antonelli and Juliana Felisberta in the finale.
Currently ranked fifth internationally, Antonelli and Juliana defeated Agatha and Barbara a week earlier for the Norwegian Grand Slam gold medal in Stavanger. Ranking ahead of Antonelli and Juliana on the FIVB list are Canadians Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan and Kristina Valjas/Jamie Broder along with Germans Karla Borger/Britta Buthe.
With the FIVB sanctioning world championships in beach volleyball since 1987 in Rio de Janeiro with the first-recognized event being staged in Los Angeles in 1997, the 2015 tournament for men and women will begin Friday in The Hague with two matches after the opening ceremonies on the sand at The Hofvijver stadium court in front of the Netherlands' center of government.
Action continues Saturday with Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam hosting pool play matches along with The Hague. All four sites will continue to stage matches through July 1 when the final elimination rounds will be played at The Hofvijver stadium court concluding with the women’s medal matches July 4 and the men’s final two contests July 5.
In addition to winning pairs sharing the $60,000 first-place prize money for each gender, the gold medal teams will also earn their country a berth in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. With the qualifying starting for the Rio Summer Games, only Brazil has secured a spot for the 2016 Olympics by being the host country. A maximum of two berths per country per gender are allowed for the 2016 Olympics with other spots determined by FIVB World Tour and Continental Cup competition.
Here are the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour rankings through June 21 (seven events from women and six for men).
Men (Team Rank, events, points)
1, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands, 5, 2,540
2, Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil, 4, 2,360
3, Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira, Spain, 5, 2,180
4, Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 4, 2,000
5, Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, 4, 1,880
6, Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter, Canada, 6, 1,840
7, Ricardo Santos/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 4, 1,800
8, Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States, 4, 1,760
9, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 4, 1,720
10, Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson, France, 5, 1,640
11, Bartosz Losiak/Piotr Kantor, Poland, 6, 1,600
12, Chaim Schalk/Ben Saxton, Canada, 5, 1,560
12, Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo, Italy, 4, 1,560
14, Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 4, 1,520
14, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 4, 1,520
14, Juan Virgen/Lombardo Ontiveros, Mexico, 6, 1,520
17, Nick Lucena/Theo Brunner, United States, 5, 1,500
18, Alexander Walkenhorst/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 4, 1,440
19, Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov, Russia, 5, 1,420
20, Matteo Ingrosso/Paolo Ingrosso, Italy, 4, 1,280
21, Volkan Gogtepe/Murat Giginoglu, Turkey, 5, 1,240
22, John Hyden/Tri Bourne, United States, 4, 1,200
23, Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany, 5, 1,180
24, Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh, Australia, 5, 1,120
24, Vitor Felipe/Alvaro Filho, Brazil, 4, 1,120
Women (Team Rank, events, points)
1, Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, Brazil, 5, 2,860
2, Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada, 6, 2,350
3, Kristina Valjas/Jamie Broder, Canada, 7, 2,280
4, Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany, 5, 2,180
5, Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli, Brazil, 4, 2,120
6, Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude, Germany, 7, 2,070
7, Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, 5, 2,020
8, Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 4, 1,970
9, Larissa Franca/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 3, 1,960
10, Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo, Spain, 5, 1,920
11, Liliane Maestrini/Carolina Horta, Brazil, 7, 1,760
11, Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, Italy, 4, 1,760
13, Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China, 5, 1,750
14, Melissa Humana-Paredes/Taylor Pischke, Canada, 7, 1,640
15, Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, Argentina, 6, 1,520
15, Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany, 4, 1,520
17, Taru Lahti/Riikka Lehtonen, Finland, 6, 1,480
17, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 5, 1,480
17, Brooke Sweat/Lauren Fendrick, United States, 5, 1,480
20, Nadine Zumkehr/Joana Heidrich, Switzerland, 5, 1,440
21, Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova, Slovak Republic, 5, 1,400
22, Stefanie Schwaiger/Barbara Hansel, Austria, 7, 1,390
23, Kinga Kolosinska/Monika Brzostek, Poland, 5, 1,380
23, Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova, Russia, 4, 1,380
25, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 5, 1,360