Lausanne, Switzerland, July 30, 2018 - After staging beach volleyball events on three continents last week, the FIVB World Tour hosts men's and women's international tournaments in neighboring European countries with stops in the Austrian and Slovenian capital cities of Vienna and Ljubljana.
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Starting Tuesday in Vienna, the Austrian capital welcomes the FIVB World Tour for the second-straight season by staging the third Beach Major Series event this year while the action in the Slovenian capital starts Friday when Ljubljana hosts the international circuit for the first time as the two cities are only 384 km (239 miles) apart.
Ljubljana center court action
The $600,000 A1 Major Vienna presented by Swatch is the last qualifying tournament for men and women for the prestigious $800,000 Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals which will be held in Germany for the second-straight season in Hamburg from August 14-19.
Ten teams per gender will compete in the Hamburg event with the top eight teams on the men's and women's FIVB Beach Volleyball ranking list on August 8 automatically qualified for World Tour Finals along with two wild cards per gender. The FIVB World Tour rank is based on the eight (8) best results at all FIVB recognized events over the last 365 days.
The 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour staged double-gender events last week in Japan (Tokyo), Turkey (Samsun) and Morocco (Agadir) with pairs from Chile, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Russia winning gold medals. Since the start of the World Tour last September, the FIVB has sanctioned 37 events for the men and 38 for the women.
In Tokyo, Germany’s Teresa Mersmann/Cinja Tillman each won her second career FIVB World Tour gold, defeating Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen of Finland. For the men, Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt of Chile won the first FIVB World Tour title for their country, defeating Serbia’s Stefan Basta/Lazar Kolaric.
In Agadir, Italy’s Carolina Ferraris/Francesca Michieletto each won her first FIVB World Tour gold medal, defeating Eva Freiberger/Valeria Teufl of Austria. In the men’s competition, in an all-Czech Republic final, Donovan Dzavoronok/Jindrich Weiss won their country’s men’s first FIVB World Tour title defeating countrymen Marcel Myslivecek/Martin Pihera.
In Agadir, Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth claimed Italy’s second women’s gold medal of the weekend by defeating Martina Bonnerova/Sarka Nakladalova of the Czech Republic while Russians Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov won the men’s title by defeating Christoph Dressler/Alexander Huber of Austria.
The penultimate week of the 2017-2018 FIVB season, leading up to the World Tour Finals, will hold events in Russia (Moscow) and Liechtenstein (Vaduz) from August 8-12.
Japan - Tokyo, July 24-29, 2018, $75,000, FIVB men's event No. 402
1. Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, Chile, $10,000
2. Stefan Basta/Lazar Kolaric, Serbia, $8,000
3. Casey Patterson/Stafford Slick, United States, $5,000
4. Philipp Bergmann/Yannick Harms, Germany, $4,000
Gold - Grimalts def. Basta/Kolaric, 2-0 (21-12, 21-17) (29 minutes)
Bronze - Patterson/Slick def. Bergmann/Harms, 2-1 (18-21, 21-13, 15-10) (44)
The Tokyo Open men's and women's podium placers
Japan - Tokyo, July 24-29, 2018, $75,000, FIVB Women's event No. 368
1. Teresa Mersmann/Cinja Tillmann, Germany, $10,000
2. Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen, Finland, $8,000
3. Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami, Japan, $5,000
4. Ingrid Lunde/Oda Ulveseth, Norway, $4,000
Gold - Mersmann/Tillmann def. Lahti/Parkkinen, 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) (37)
Bronze - Ishii/Murakami def. Lunde/Ulveseth, 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) (43)
Turkey - Samsun, July 25-29, 2018, $5,000, FIVB Men's event No. 403
1. Donovan Dzavoronok/Jindrich Weiss, Czech Republic, $1,000
2. Marcel Myslivecek/Martin Pihera, Czech Republic, $700
3. Stefan Boermans/Casper Haanappel, Netherlands, $500
4. Peter Eglseer/Thomas Kunert, Austria, $400
Gold - Dzavoronok/Weiss def. Myslivecek/Pihera, 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) (36)
Bronze - Boermans/Haanappel def. Eglseer/Kunert, 2-0 (21-14, 22-20) (44)
The Samsun Open podium placers
Turkey - Samsun, July 25-29, 2018, $5,000, FIVB Women's event No. 369
1. Carolina Ferraris/Francesca Michieletto, Italy, $1,000
2. Eva Freiberger/Valerie Teufl, Austria, $700
3. Camilla Nilsson/Sofia Ogren, Sweden, $500
4. Nicole Dostalova/Anna Komarkova, Czech Republic, $400
Gold - Ferraris/Michieletto def. Freiberger/Teufl, 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-11) (54)
Bronze - Nilsson/Ogren def. Dostalova/Komarkova, 2-1 (15-21, 21-12, 15-10) (46)
Morocco - Agadir, July 26-29 2018, $25,000, FIVB Men's event No. 404
1. Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov, Russia, $4,000
2. Christoph Dressler/Alexander Huber, Austria, $3,000
3. Julian Azaad/Nicolas Capogrosso, Argentina, $2,000
4. Lukas Kazdailis/Arnas Rumsevicius, Lithuania, $1,400
Gold - Bykanov/Hudyakov def. Dressler/Huber, 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 17-15) (52)
Bronze - Azaad/Capogrosso def. Kazdailis/Rumsevicius, 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) (37)
The Agadir Open podium with presenters and friends
Morocco - Agadir, July 26-29-30 2018, $25,000, FIVB Women's event No. 370
1. Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, Italy, $4,000
2. Martina Bonnerova/Sarka Nakladalova, Czech Republic, $3,000
3. Alise Lece/Ilze Liepinlauska, Latvia, $2,000
4. Alice Gradini/Claudia Scampoli, Italy, $1,400
Gold - Menegatti/Orsi Toth def. Bonnerova/Nakladalova, 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-12) (56)
Bronze - Lece/Liepinlauska def. Gradini/Scampoli, 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) (34)