Lucerne, Switzerland, May 10, 2018 – To add to the excitement of playing in the main draw of the three-star Lucerne stop on the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and battling for their share of the US$ 150,000 prize money, the 128 players will have to deal with the rainy conditions they woke up to on Thursday morning by the shores of Lake Lucerne. The good news is that the covered main tribune at centre court is be open to the general public.
32 women’s and 32 men’s pairs make up the line-up for the pool stage of the tournament. In each gender, they are divided into eight pools of four teams each. Within each pool two matches will be played first, with the two winners securing their spots in the single elimination phase and playing each other on Friday for a direct ticket to the second knockout round.
The two losers will also face each other in the survival battles determining who stays and who goes. On the women’s side, these games are schedule for Thursday afternoon, while the male participants will have to sleep on it before crossing their swords on Friday morning.
Women take on the wet sand in pool play first. China’s Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia and Japan’s Chiyo Suzuki and Reika Murakami are to open the main draw programme on centre court with their Pool C encounter.
Next, the home crowd, defying the rain, will get to cheer on Swiss wildcards Esmee Boebner and Zoe Verge-Depre in their first Pool A match, against Australian top seeds Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho.
“We are qualified for the main draw of a World Tour event for the first time. We are very excited and will give our best to win at least one match. We are proud that we get this chance in Switzerland,” Verge-Depre said.
The first matches in men’s pool play are set to take place in the afternoon hours. The top-seeded Swiss pair Nico Beeler and Marco Krattiger will be the first ones to entertain the fans on centre court with their Pool A game against USA’s Sean Rosenthal and Chase Budinger.
“We are not so happy with our results so far this year. We love to play in Switzerland and will give our best to reach our best result so far, with our friends and family in the crowd,” said Beeler.