The two European events open this week’s action Wednesday with qualifying play at the $300,000 Ostrava Beach Open in the Czech Republic and the $10,000 Manavgat Open in Turkey. The Czech Republic event is the first FIVB World Tour double gender stop in the country after hosting stand-alone men’s (2008, 2010-2012) and women’s (2014-2015) tournaments.
The Ostrava Beach Open will be played in an industrial park in the Vítkovice district of the city. “We are used to playing in the harbour, in the mountains, but we have never played in an industrial city with plenty of iron around. So, I'm curious,” said Czech Republic Olympian Barbora Hermannova, who teams with Marketa Slukova as the fourth-ranked team on the FIVB World Tour.
The Manavgat Open, the fourth of nine events incorporated from the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) schedule into the FIVB World Volleyball World Tour for the 2017-2018 season, is the fourth of five Turkish international tournaments this season with the first three events being in Mersin, Aydin and Alanya.
The $50,000 Singapore Open on Siloso Beach in Sentosa marks only the second FIVB World Tour event in the Asian country with the first being a women-only stop in 2007. Qualifying play in Singapore will be on Wednesday with the Main Draw starting on Thursday leading to Saturday’s gold medal matches for men and women.
With the three double gender events, this week’s tournaments will be No. 26, 27 and 28 this season for men and No. 25, 26 and 27 for women on the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour calendar. The 2017-2018 campaign is the busiest in FIVB history with 43 men’s events on the calendar and 44 stops for women. The previous World Tour event highs in a season was 23 for men (2016) and 20 for women (2008 and 2016).
In FIVB World Tour action on Sunday, Josemari Alves and Liliane Maestrini topped an FIVB World Tour women's podium for the second-straight weekend as the Brazilian pair denied Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia a host country title in winning the three-set Silk Road Tangshan Open gold medal match in Nanjing.
The women's podium in Nanjing
Several hours later in Europe, FIVB veterans Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst won a three-set gold medal match over compatriots Julian Horl and Tobias Winter in an all-Austrian men's finale in Baden. Teresa Mersmann and Cinja Tillmann of Germany defeated Lena Plesiutschnig and Katharina Schutzenhofer of Austria in two sets to win the FIVB World Tour title on Saturday in Baden.
The men's podium in Baden on Sunday
Austria - Baden, June 14-16, 2018, $8,700, FIVB Women's event No. 355
1. Teresa Mersmann/Cinja Tillmann, Germany, $1,740
2. Lena Plesiutschnig/Katharina Schutzenhofer, Austria, $1,218
3. Emilie Olimstad/Janne Pedersen, Norway, $879
4. Agnese Caica/Marta Ozolina, Latvia, $696
Gold - Mersmann/Tillman def. Plesiutschnig/Schutzenhofer, 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) (33 minutes)
Bronze - Olimstad/Pedersen def. Caica/Ozolina, 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) (33)
The women's podium in Baden
China - Nantong, June 7-10, 2018, $25,000, FIVB Women’s event No. 354
1. Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini, Brazil, $6,000
2. Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia, China, $4,500
3. Amanda Dowdy, Irene Pollock, United States, $3,700
4. Meimei Lin/Lingdi Zhu, China, $2,500
Gold - Josi/Liliane def. Wang/Xia, 2-1 (21-18, 21-23, 15-11) (56)
Bronze - Dowdy/Pollock def. Lin/Zhu, 2-1 (21-19, 16-21, 16-14) (54)
Austria - Baden, June 13-17, 2018, $5,000, FIVB Men’s event No. 392
1. Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, $1,740
2. Julian Horl/Tobias Winter, Austria, $1,218
3. Bjarne Huus/Anders Mol, Norway, $879
4. Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz-Telsnigg, Austria, $698
Gold - Doppler/Horst def. Horl/Winter, 2-1 (18-21, 21-16, 15-13) (50)
Bronze - Huus/Mol def. Ermacora/Pristauz-Telsnigg, 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) (40)