Lausanne, Switzerland, May 14, 2018 - After gold medals were earned last weekend by teams from Australia, Japan and the United States at events in Vietnam, Thailand and Switzerland, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour continues this week at tournaments in Turkey and Brazil as the men's and women's international circuit is amid a seven-week double gender schedule without a break in action.
The seven-week stretch of play for double gender events started April 18-22 with a stop in China (Xiamen) and concludes with men's and women's events in China (Jinjiang) and Turkey (Alanya) May 31-June 3. Both of this week's events in Itapema, Brazil and Aydin, Turkey are inaugural tournaments.
The $300,000 Itapema Open begins Wednesday with qualifying to decide the final eight men's and women's Main Draw berths. The Main Draw starts Thursday and concludes Sunday with the medal matches at the Meia Praia as the winning teams will each share the $20,000 first-place prizes for each gender.
The $10,000 Aydin Open starts Thursday on the City Square courts with qualifying followed by Main Draw play Friday. The medal matches will be played Sunday for both men and women with the winning pairs splitting the $1,000 first-place prizes.
The Brazil and Turkey events will be the 20th and 21st men's events on this season's FIVB World Tour and the 17th and 18th for women. The Itapema stop is the first of two FIVB World Tour stops in Brazil with the second being next week in Miguel Pereira for a $10,000 event. The Aydin tournament is the second of five FIVB events in Turkey this season with the next World Tour event being in Alanya for another $10,000 event.
The fourth of seven-straight weekends of double gender play on the FIVB World Tour action concluded on Sunday highlighted by the third gold medal finish this season by Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy as the Australians topped the women's podium Sunday in Lucerne, Switzerland. With the 2017-2018 season starting last October, Artacho and Clancy won the first and third events on the international women’s calendar with titles in China (Qinzhou, October 15) and Australia (Sydney, November 25).
Australians Taliqua Clancy (left) and Mariafe Artacho captured their third gold medal this season by topping the Swiss podium in Lucerne.
American and Japanese players topped the podiums at last weekend's other tournaments. The men's gold medal winners in Thailand for the Bangkok Open was to be noted as Yusuke "Gottsu" Ishijima and Takumi Takahashi became the first-ever men's team from Japan to top a FIVB World Tour podium.
Here are the men's and women's results from last weekend's events in Vietnam, Thailand and Switzerland.
Vietnam - Tuan Chau Island, May 9-12, 2018, $10,000
1. Suzuka Hashimoto/Sayaka Mizoe, Japan, 2,000
2. Minori Kumada/Yui Nagata, Japan, $1,400
3. Kaho Sakaguchi/Yukako Suzuki, Japan, $1,000
4. Noy Chorin Sofia/Starikov, Israel, $800
Gold - Hashimoto/Mizo def. Kumada/Nagata, 2-1 (25-23, 18-21, 15-13) (53)
Bronze – Sakaguchi/Suzuki def. Chorin/Starikov, 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-13) (50)
Thailand - Bangkok, May 10-13, 2018, $5,000
1. Aurora Davis/Bree Scarbrough, United States, $1,000
2. Maria Carro/Paula Soria, Spain, $700
3. Ayumi Kusano/Takemi Nishibori, Japan, $500
4. Megan McNamara/Nicole McNamara, Canada, $400
Gold - Davis/Scarbrough def. Carro/Soria, 2-1 (21-13, 17-21, 15-8) (46)
Bronze - Kusano/Nishibori def. McNamaras, 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) (31)
Thailand - Bangkok, May 10-13, 2018, $5,000
1. Yusuke "Gottsu" Ishijima/Takumi Takahashi, Japan, $1,000
2. Daniel Mullner/Florian Schnetzer, Austria, $700
3. Alejandro Huerta/Javier Huerta, Spain, $500
4. Aleksandr Kramarenko/Taras Myskiv, Russia, $400
Gold - Ishijima/Takahashi def. Mullner/Schnetzer, 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) (39)
Bronze - Huertas def. Kramarenko/Myskiv, 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 18-16) (46)
Switzerland - Lucerne, May 9-13, 2018, $150,000
1. Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy. Australia, $8,000
2. Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia, China, $8,000
3. Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman, United States, $5,000
4. Joy Stubbe/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, $4,000
Gold - Artacho//Clancy def. Wang/Xia, 2-0 (21-12, 21-18) (33)
Bronze - Larsen/Stockman def. Stubbe/Van Iersel 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-9) (44)
Switzerland - Lucerne, May 9-13, 2018, $150,000
1. Trevor Crabb/John Mayer, United States, $ 8,000
2. Stefan Basta/Lazar Kolaric, Serbia. $8,000
3. Mirco Gerson/Adrian Heidrich, Switzerland, $4,000
4. Mohammad Ashfiya/Candra Rachmawan, Indonesia, $4,000
Gold - Tr. Crabb/Mayer def. Basta/Kolaric, 2-0 (21-10, 21-16) (30)
Bronze - Gerson/Heidrich def. Ashfiya/Rachmawan, 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) (32)