Lausanne, Switzerland, June 4, 2018 - With men’s players on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour taking a weekend off, the women’s circuit remains in China for the fourth of six international tournaments in the Asian country starting on Thursday for the Silk Road Nantong Open.
The 2018 Silk Road Nantong Open will be played in the Gangzha District and the tournament will be the 22nd of 44 women’s events on the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour calendar. Thursday’s schedule will qualify six pairs for Friday’s opening pool play rounds in the 24-team Main Draw. The quarterfinals will be played on Saturday with the semifinal and medal matches scheduled for Sunday.
A total of 35 women’s teams from 20 countries are currently on the entry list for the Silk Road Nantong Open. Several Nantong entries have netted gold medals on the 2017-2018 World Tour including Ayumi Kusano/Takemi Nishibori of Japan (Manila, Philippines), Ksenia Dabizha/Daria Mastikova of Russia (Langkawi, Malaysia) and Amanda Dowdy/Irene Pollock of the United States (Shepparton, Australia).
China’s Xinyi Xia, who captured the inaugural Silk Road Open with Shuhui Wen last year, has entered the 2018 Nantong event with Xinxin Wang. Xia and Wen defeated Wang and Chen Xue in two sets in the all-Chinese finale in 2017. Lithuanian Ieva Dumbauskaite, who claimed the 2017 Nantong bronze medal with Monika Povilaityte, also returns in 2018 with Irina Zobnina.
The 2017 Silk Road Nantong Open podium with event volunteers
Women’s teams from Germany (Alanya) and Japan (Jinjiang) posted gold medal wins on Sunday while men’s pairs from Russia (Alanya) and the United States (Jinjiang) topped the FIVB World Tour podiums at the events in Turkey and China.
Suzuka Hashimoto/Sayaka Mizoe of Japan and Trevor Crabb/John Mayer of the United States each captured their second gold medal this season by winning the women’s and men's gold medal finales, respectively, Sunday at the Jinjiang Open in China. Topping the podiums at the Alanya Open were Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov of Russia and Sarah Schneider/Viktoria Seeber of Germany as each pair defeated teams from host Turkey in the gold medal matches.
The Alanya Open men's and women's podium placers
China - Jinjiang, May 31-June 3, 2018, FIVB Women's Event No. 352
1. Suzuka Hashimoto/Sayaka Mizoe, Japan, $4,000
2. Nai-Han Kou/Pi Hsin Liu, Chinese Taipei. $3,000
3. Reika Murakami/Chiyo Suzuki, Japan, $2,000
4. Aurora Davis/Bree Scarbrough, United States, $1,400
Gold - Hashimoto/Mizoe def. Kou/Liu, 2-1 (21-13, 19-21, 15-5) (46 minutes)
Bronze - Murakami/Suzuki def. Davis/Scarbrough, 2-0 (21-12, 22-20) (34)
China - Jinjiang, May 31-June 3, 2018, FIVB Men's Event No. 390
1. Trevor Crabb/John Mayer, United States, $4,000
2. Nils Ehlers/Lorenz Schumann, Germany, $3,000
3. Peng Gao/Yang Li, China, $2,000
4. Max Betzien/Jonathan Erdmann, Germany, $1,400
Gold - Crabb/Mayer def. Ehlers/Schumann, 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 17-15) (49)
Bronze - Gao/Li def. Betzien/Erdmann, 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) (34)
Turkey - Alanya, May 31-June 3, 2018, FIVB Women's Event No. 353
1. Sarah Schneider/Viktoria Seeber, Germany, $1,000
2. Bugra Eryildiz/Aleyna Vence, Turkey, $700
3. Daria Rudykh/Elizaveta Zayonchkovskaya, Russia, $500
4. Silvia Costantini/Gaia Traballi, Italy, $400
Gold - Schneider/Seeber, Germany def. Eryildiz/Vence, 2-1 (18-21, 21-13, 15-13) (48)
Bronze - Rudykh/Zayonchkovskay def. Costantini/Traballi, 2-1 (21-15, 13-21, 15-12) (45)
Turkey - Alanya, May 31-June 3, 2018, FIVB Men's Event No. No. 391
1. Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov, Russia, $1,000
2. Murat Giginoglu/Volkan Gogtepe, Turkey, $700
3. Oleksiy Denin/Denys Denysenko, Ukraine, $500
4. Florian Breer/Yves Haussener, Switzerland, $400
Gold - Bykanov/Hudyakov def. Giginoglu/Gogtepe, 2-1 (21-13, 16-21, 15-11) (58)
Bronze - Denin/Denysenko def. Breer/Haussener, 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 17-15) (56)
Beach volleyball calendar
In an update to the 2017/2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar, the World Tour tournament in Tokyo, Japan from July 25 to 29 will now be a 3-star event instead of a 4-star event. The Tokyo stop takes place in the same week as tournaments in Agadir, Morocco and Samsun, Turkey, and the week before the third five-star event of the season, the Vienna Major from July 31 to August 5.