The Hague, The Netherlands, July 13, 2017 - With two women’s country quota matches here early Tuesday evening for Brazilians on the outdoor sand at the newly-constructed Sportcampus Zuiderpark, and a men’s allocation contest for Austrian pairs in Vienna, the US$150,000 Dela Beach Open is underway.
Before the Brazilian women played two matches at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark, the men’s country quota competition was staged in the Austrian capital with Robin Seidl and Tobias Winter defeating Martin Ermacora and Florian Schnetzer 2-0 (27-25, 21-15) in 49 minutes.
With the win, Seidl and Winter join compatriots Julian Horl/Alexander Huber in Wednesday’s 24-team qualifier where two rounds will be played at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark. The Austrians will be seeking berths in Thursday’s opening “money” rounds where the European nation has already placed two teams in the Main Draw - Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst and Christoph Dressler/Thomas Kunert.
It is the second-time this season that an Austrian country quota match was not played at the site of the FIVB World Tour event. The first was last month for the Rio Open in Brazil when Seidl and Winter defeated Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-12) to claim a berth in the qualification tournament.
As for the women, Maria Antonelli and Carolina Salgado advanced from a Brazilian country quota playoff for the second-straight FIVB World Tour event as the pair seeks to join compatriots Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa and Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas in the Dela Beach Open Main Draw.
Maria Antonelli (left) and Carolina Salgado celebrate after winning two Brazilian country quota matches Tuesday at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark in The Hague for the Dela Beach Open.
After defeating Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini 2-1 (13-21, 21-19, 15-10) in 51 minutes, Antonelli and Carolina posted a 2-1 (21-19, 20-22 and 15-13) win in 61 minutes over Taiana Lima and Elize Maia. Lima and Elize were also ousted in Moscow two weeks ago by Antonelli\Salgado, who advanced to the Russian capital qualifier by defeating Josemari/Liliane.
For Carolina, who gave birth to her first child last July, also advanced from a Brazilian country quota playoff in mid-May at the Rio FIVB World Tour stop as she teamed with Juliana Felisberta as the pair eliminated Antonelli and Carolina Horta in the preliminary rounds.
With the FIVB World Tour returning to The Hague for the seventh-time, this week’s men’s and women’s Beach Volleyball tournament will be part of a schedule that also features FIVB World League play where The Netherlands hosts Korea, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in Pool I2. It marks the first-time a Beach Volleyball World Tour stop and the Volleyball World League event have been played simultaneously at the same venue.
Following the men’s and women’s qualification, the first of four days of Dela Beach Open Main Draw action starts Thursday with “modified” pool play and concludes Sunday with the medal matches for the seventh double gender event on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar.
As the host country for the FIVB World Tour event, The Netherlands have already placed three men’s and three women’s teams in Beach Volleyball “money” rounds. Men’s Main Draw teams for the Dutch will be Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Maarten Van Garderen/Christiaan Varenhorst and Mees Blom/Ruben Penninga.
Women’s entrants in the “money” rounds are Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink, Manon Nummerdor-Flier/Marleen Van Iersel and Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe. Jannes van der Ham/Sven Vismans and Raisa Schoon/Emi van Driel are scheduled to compete for the Netherlands in the men's and women's qualification tournaments, respectively.
Beach Volleyball matches at Sportcampus Zuiderpark, a newly-constructed multifunctional sports and education center will be played on both outside and inside courts. The FIVB World League contests will be the first international sporting event to take place at the 3,000-seat venue, which is also the new training center for the Dutch federation's Beach Volleyball program.
Competition (top left) and training courts at the indoor Beach Volleyball facility at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark in The Hague for the Dela Beach Open on the FIVB World Tour.
Following the Dela Beach Open, the international circuit takes a week off before resuming play with SWATCH Major Series stops in Croatia (Porec, June 27-July 2) and Switzerland (Gstaad, July 4-9). Highlighting the 2017 international calendar for men and women Beach Volleyball players will be the $1-million FIVB World Championships July 28 through August 6 in Vienna and the $800,000 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals August 23-27 in Hamburg, Germany. Overall, there are 15 men’s and 19 women’s events on the $5.335-million FIVB World Tour schedule.