Lausanne, Switzerland, October 17, 2017 - Holding both men's and women's competitions, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) has fully launched a new season of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with the men’s second event and the women’s season-opener. Last week, the FIVB World Tour held a double-gender event in China. There are currently two remaining double-gender events listed on the 2017 portion of the 2018 FIVB World Tour schedule.
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FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - QinzhouFIVB Beach Volleyball World TourFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesThe 2018 FIVB World Tour got into full swing in China with the double-gender FIVB Qinzhou 3-Star tournament with a team from Russia earning the men’s gold medal and a duo from Australia capturing the women’s gold medal.
FIVB Qinzhou - Men
Winning the men’s gold medal last week at the Qinzhou event with an unbeaten 5-0 match record was Russia’s 15th-seeded Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko who defeated Mexico’s second-seeded Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen in three tough sets, 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 20-18) in 52 total minutes.
Russians Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko celebrate their victoryIt was the first career FIVB World Tour gold medal and first final four finish for Russia’s Sivolap/Velichko, individually and as a team. Russia’s Sivolap/Velichko have now played in eight FIVB World Tour events as a team with their previous best finish two fifth place finishes in 2017.
Earning the men’s bronze medal in Qinzhou was Cuba’s third-seeded Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez who came back to hold off Belgium’s top-seeded Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle in three sets, 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-11) in 48 minutes.
In the FIVB Qinzhou 3-Star men’s semifinals, Russia’s Sivolap/Velichko advanced to the gold medal match by holding off Cuba’s Diaz/Gonzalez in three sets, 2-1 (21-18, 16-21, 15-10) in 40 minutes and Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen advanced by upsetting Belgium’s Koekelkoren/van Walle in straight sets 2-0 (21-13, 21-19) in 36 minutes.
Russia's Igor Velichko was picked as the men's Most Outstanding Player in Qinzhou
FIVB Qinzhou - Women
Winning the women’s gold medal last week at the Qinzhou event with an unbeaten 5-0 match record was Australia’s fifth-seeded Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy who stopped Poland’s 30th-seeded Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska in impressive straight sets, 2-0 (21-11, 21-12) in just 28 minutes.
It was the first career FIVB World Tour gold medal for Australia’s Artacho/Clancy, individually and as a team in just their second world tour event as a team. Individually, Artacho has played in 41 FIVB World Tour events with her previous best finish a silver medal in Sydney, Australia during the 2017 FIVB World Tour. For Clancy, she has now played in 58 FIVB World Tour events and her previous best was a bronze medal in Porec, Croatia in 2015. It was the first FIVB World Tour event and medal for Poland’s Kociolek/Kolosinska. Individually, for Kociolek it was just her second FIVB World Tour event, following a 17th in Xiamen, China in 2014. Kolosinska has now played in 77 FIVB World Tour Events with a high of a silver medal in a grand slam in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.
Earning the women’s bronze medal in Qinzhou was the United States’ second-seeded Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat who fought through China’s top-seeded Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) in only 31 minutes. Playing in just their ninth FIVB World Tour event as a team, it was the second medal finish for the American duo and third final four finish. Individually, Ross, who won a record two different FIVB Age-Group World Championships in 2010, has played in 63 FIVB World Tour events with two silver medals and Sweat has competed in 55 with a high of second in Moscow with Ross during the 2017 FIVB World Tour.
In the Qinzhou women’s semifinals, Australia’s Artacho/Clancy advanced to the gold medal match by overcoming China’s Wang/Xia in two sets, 2-0 (29-27, 21-18) in 44 minutes and Poland’s Kociolek/Kolosinska advanced by defeating United States’ Ross/Sweat in two sets, 2-0 (21-7, 21-18) in 33 minutes.
Australia's Mariafe Artacho claimed the women's Most Outstanding Player award in Qinzhou
FIVB World Ranking system
Part of the latest edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball published in early 2017, the FIVB World Ranking system has been established based on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points earned at the eight best performances as a team in all FIVB sanctioned or homologated Beach Volleyball Events over a 365-days period. The FIVB World Ranking is updated every Monday after an FIVB sanctioned or homologated event granting FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points.
Men's world rankings
Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola leads this week’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,180 points, second is Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolia with 3,920 points, third is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin with 3,900 points, fourth is USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena with 3,840 points and fifth is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho with 3,760 points.
Sixth is Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak with 3,740 points, seventh is Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 3,340 points, eighth is Austria’s Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst with 3,156 points, ninth is Brazil’s Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes/Pedro Solberg with 3,100 points, 10th is Canada’s Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter with 2,900 points, 11th is Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera with 2,800 points, 12th is Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle with 2,572 points, 13th is Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin with 2,560 points, 14th is USA’s Ryan Doherty/John Hyden with 2,480 points and 15th is Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen with 2,460 points.
Men's earnings
In the 2018 FIVB World Tour men’s earnings after two events, Russia’s Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko lead with $8,000 in one event with one gold medal, second is Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen with $6,000 in one event, third is Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez with $5,000 in one event, fourth is France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou with $4,100 in two events, fifth is Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle with $3,600 in one event and tied for sixth with $3,000 each in two events are Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schwiner and Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric..
Men's final fours
After two men’s tournaments, eight countries had at least one final four placement. Tied for first with one final four placement each are Belgium (one fourth place finish), Cuba (one bronze medal), Czech Republic (one silver medal), France (one bronze medal), Mexico (one silver medal), Russia (one gold medal), Serbia (one fourth place finish) and Slovenia (one gold medal).
Men's winning percentage
Based on winning percentage, after two men’s events with a minimum of two matches played, 2018 co-leaders at 100.0 per cent are Russia’s Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko (5-0) and Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak (4-0). Tied for third at 80.0 per cent are Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (4-1) and Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen (4-1), tied for fifth at 75.0 per cent are Netherlands’ Dirk Boehle/Steven van de Velde (3-1) and Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov (3-1) and sixth at 71.4 per cent is France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou (5-2).
Earning the men's silver medal last week in Qinzhou, China was Mexico's Juan Virgen, left, and Lombardo Ontiveros
Men's match wins
With five match wins each after two events are France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou (5-2) and Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric (5-3). Tied for third with four matches wins each are Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak (4-0), Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (4-1), Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen (4-1) and Netherlands’ Ruben Penninga/Tom van Steenis (4-2).
Women's rankings
Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo continues at the top of the current women’s FIVB World Rankings with 5,560 points, second is Canada’s Melissa Humana-Parades/Sarah Pavan with 4,480 points, third is Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with 4,240 points, fourth is Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa with 4,000 points and fifth is Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova with 3,460 points.
Sixth is Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas with 3,180 points, seventh is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with 3,060 points, eighth is Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova with 3,032 points, ninth is Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre with 2,940 points, 10th is Australia’s Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy with 2,616 points, 11th is Canada’s Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson with 2,600 points, 12th is Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst with 2,544 points, 13th is Switzerland’s Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli with 2,412 points, 14th is Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider with 2,060 points and 15th is Germany’s Nadja Glenzke/Julia Grossner with 1,990 points.
Women's earnings
In the women’s earnings after one event, Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy lead with $8,000 in one event with one gold medal, second is Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska with $6,000 in one event, third is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with $5,000 in one event, fourth is China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia with $3,600 in one event and tied for fifth with $2,900 each in one event are Australia’s Louise Bawden/Jessyka Ngauamo, Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova, Germany’s Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger and USA’s Nicola Branagh/Lauren Fendrick..
Women's final fours
After one women’s tournament, four countries had at least one final four placement. Tied for first with one final four placement each are Australia (one gold medal), China (one fourth place finish), Poland (one silver medal) and the United States (one bronze medal).
Women's winning percentage
Based on winning percentage after one women’s events on the 2018 FIVB World Tour with a minimum of one match played, 2018 leader at 100.0 per cent is Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (5-0), tied for second at 80.0 per cent each are United States’ Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (4-1) and Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska (4-1) and tied for fourth at 66.7 per cent each are Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Schypkova (2-1), United States’ Nicole Branagh/Lauren Fendrick (2-1), Australia’s Louise Bawden/Jessyka Ngauamo (2-1) and Germany’s Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittinger (2-1).
Women's match wins
With five match wins each after one women’s events leading is Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (5-0) and tied for second with four match wins each are United States’ Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (4-1) and Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska (4-1). Tied for third with two match wins each are Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Schypkova (2-1), United States’ Nicole Branagh/Lauren Fendrick (2-1), Australia’s Louise Bawden/Jessyka Ngauamo (2-1) and Germany’s Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittinger (2-1).
On the horizon
The 2017 portion of the 2018 FIVB World Tour started in Montpellier, France with a men’s 1-Star tournament (September 7-9) and continued four weeks later in Qinzhou, China with a double-gender 3-Star event (October 11-15). Next up will be the double-gender FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star (October 25-29) in the Netherlands and the 2017 portion of the 2018 FIVB World Tour will conclude with the double-gender FIVB Sydney 2-Star (November 22-26) in Australia.
Growing history
The Aalsmeer 1-Star event will be the 370th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 334th women’s tournament since the FIVB launched women’s competition started in 1992.