Lausanne, Switzerland, July 9, 2018 - After three events in Europe this past week in Croatia, Portugal and Russia, the competition will take place on two continents this week with senior international events in Korea and Switzerland and the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in China.
Highlighting the action will be the Beach Major Series event as Gstaad prepares to host a FIVB World Tour event for the 19th-straight time in the Swiss mountain village. Country quota action will be played Monday followed by qualifying on Tuesday and the opening Main Draw pool play rounds Wednesday for the $600,000 Gstaad Major.
The second of four Beach Major Series events on the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour calendar, the Gstaad Major concludes Saturday with the men’s final four matches and Sunday for women with the semifinal and medal matches. The winning pairs will share the $40,000 first-place prizes.
The FIVB Under-19 World Championships will be played in Nanjing as the Chinese city hosts its third youth event after staging the Youth Olympics Games competition in August 2014 and the FIVB Under-21 World Championships in July 2017 where Brazilians Ana Patricia Silva and Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa won both women’s titles. Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin of Russia and Adrielson Dos Santos/Renato Lima of Brazil captured the men's gold medal in 2014 and 2017, respectively.
Brazilian youth world champions in 2017 at Nanjing
Korea hosts a women’s-only event starting Friday for the $10,000 Daegu Open. Featuring a 16-team Main Draw with the finals to be played Sunday, Daegu hosts a FIVB World Tour event for the second-straight season. Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami, who won the 2017 Daegu gold medal, will not return to defend their title as the Japanese pair will be competing in the Gstaad Major this week.
Japan vs. Thailand in the 2017 gold medal match in Daegu, Korea
In action this past weekend, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia captured their 10th FIVB World Tour title by withstanding a challenge Sunday from 43-year old Brazilian legend Ricardo Santos and his 24-year old Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes partner to capture the Espinho Open men's gold medal in three sets. Ricardo was bidding for his sixth Espinho Open title and seeking to become the oldest men's or women's player to win a FIVB World Tour event.
The ageless wonder Ricardo Santos (right) and Brazilian partner Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes
The host country captured the three women's Anapa Open podium spots Sunday where Svetlana Kholomina/Nadezda Makroguzova defeated compatriots Daria Mastikova/Anastasia Petrunina in the first-ever All-Russian women's finale on the FIVB World Tour.
It was 1-2-3 for the Chinese men in Anapa as Likejiang Ha/Jiaxin Wu defeated rivals Zhuoxin Li/Chaowei Zhou in three sets Sunday to win the gold medal in the first-ever All-Chinese men's finale on the FIVB World Tour. It was China’s second men’s gold medal this season.
Vladyslav Iemelianchyk/Sergiy Popov recovered from a first-round pool play setback Friday to win five straight Porec Open matches to capture the Ukraine's first-ever men's or women's gold medal on the FIVB World Tour in action Sunday at the Croatian coastal resort city.
Competing in their first-ever FIVB World Tour event as players and as a team, American collegiate standouts Emily Sonny/Torrey Van Winden from Cal Poly won seven straight Porec Open matches, including two qualifying wins, to capture the Croatian title over Inna and Iryna Makhno of the Ukraine.
Americans Kelly Van Winden & Emily Sonny
On Saturday in Espinho, Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy defeated Brazilians Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado in the finals as the Australians captured their fourth FIVB World Tour gold medal this season.
Here is the listing of final four teams from last week's events in Portugal, Russia and Croatia.
Portugal - Espinho, July 3-7, 2018, $150,000, FIVB Women's event No. 362
1. Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, $20,000
2. Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado, Brazil, $16,000
3. Sara Hughes/Summer Ross, United States, $10,000
4. Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland, $8,000
Gold - Artacho/Clancy def. Antonelli/Carolina, 2-0 (23-21, 21-17) (37 minutes)
Bronze - Hughes/Ross def. Kociolek/Kolosinska, 2-1 (17-21, 21-13, 15-11) (44)
The Espinho Open women's podium with Brazilians, Australians and Americans
Russia - Anapa, July 4-8, 2018, $10,000, FIVB Women's event No. 363
1. Svetlana Kholomina/Nadezda Makroguzova, Russia, $2,000
2. Daria Mastikova/Anastasia Petrunina, Russia, $1,400
3. Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova Russia, $1,000
4. Yulia Abalakina/Ksenia Dabizha, Russia, $800
Gold - Kholomina/Makroguzova def. Mastikova/Petrunina, 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) (29)
Bronze - Birlova/Ukolova def. Abalakina/Dabizha, 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) (38)
Women & Men podium placers in Anapa
Croatia - Porec, July 4-8, 2018, $5,000, FIVB Women's event No. 364
1. Emily Sonny/Torrey Van Winden, United States, $1,000
2. Inna Makhno/Iryna Makhno, Ukraine, $700
3. Merve Nezir/Aleyna Vence, Turkey, $500
4. Dimitra Manavi/Konstantina Tsopoulou, Greece, $400
Gold - Sonny/Van Winden def. Makhnos, 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) (33)
Bronze - Nezir/Vence def. Manavi/Tsopoulou, 2-1 (22-20, 21-23, 15-13) (55)
Russia - Anapa, July 4-8, 2018, $10,000, FIVB Men's event No. 397
1. Likejiang Ha/Jiaxin Wu, China, $2,000
2. Zhuoxin Li/Chaowei Zhou, China, $1,400
3. Peng Gao/Yang Li, China, $1,000
4. Ivan Golovin/Taras Myskiv, Russia, $800
Gold - Ha/Wu def. Li/Zhou, 2-1 (21-9, 19-21, 15-9) (42)
Bronze - Gao/Li def. Golovin/Myskiv, 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 15-12) (45)
Croatia - Porec, July 4-8, 2018, $5,000, FIVB Men's event No. 398
1. Vladyslav Iemelianchyk/Sergiy Popov, Ukraine, $1,000
2. Simon Fruhbauer/Jorg Wutzl, Austria, $700
3. Haralds Regza/Toms Smedins, Latvia, $500
4. Mihails Samoilovs/Kristaps Smits, Latvia, $400
Gold - Iemelianchyk/Popov def. Fruhbauer/Wutzl, 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 21-19) (53)
Bronze - Regza/Smedins def, Samoilovs/Smits, 2-0 (21-14, 25-23) (34)
The Porec Open men's podium
Portugal - Espinho, July 3-8, 2018, $150,000, FIVB Men's event No. 399
1. Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia, $20,000
2. Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, $16,000
3. Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler, Germany, $10,000
4. Vitor Felipe/Evandro Goncalves, Brazil, $8,000
Gold - Samoilovs/Smedins def. Guto/Ricardo, 2-1 (21-13, 19-21, 22-20) (60)
Bronze - Thole/Wickler def. Vitor/Evandro, 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 15-11) (49)