2017 FIVB World Tour update after FIVB Xiamen 3-Star event

FIVB Xiamen - Women
Winning the women’s gold medal at the FIVB Xiamen 3-Star event with an unblemished 5-0 match record was Brazil’s third-seeded Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas who held off China’s top-seeded Fan Wang/Yuan Yue in three hard-fought sets 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 16-14) in 50 minutes. It was the second career FIVB World Tour gold medal for Fernanda, the fifth for Barbara and their first as a team in just their second FIVB World Tour event.

Earning the women’s bronze medal in Xiamen was Germany’s 12th-seeded Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider who stopped Brazil’s 18th-seeded Maria Antonelli/Carolina Horta in straight sets, 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) in only 29 minutes.

To reach the women’s gold medal match in Xiamen from their respective semifinals, Brazil’s Fernanda/Barbara came from behind to defeat their Brazilian compatriots Antonelli/Carolina in three sets, 2-1 (21-23, 21-16, 17-15) in 52 minutes while China’s Wang/Yue came back to stop Germany’s Bieneck/Schneider in another three-setter, 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 15-12) in 47 minutes.

Brazil’s Fernanda Alves was selected as the women’s most outstanding player of the FIVB Xiamen 3-Star event.

New FIVB World Ranking system
Part of the latest edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball, the new 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 rankings/earnings
After five men’s events on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins leads this week’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,620 points while USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena duo is second with 4,080 points. Third is Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 3,672 points, fourth is Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen with 3,650 points and fifth is Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg with 3,532 points.

In the 2017 FIVB World Tour men’s earnings after five events, Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho duo is still on top of the money list with $40,000 in one event with one gold medal. Second is Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola with $32,000 in one event, third is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin with $21,100, fourth is USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena with $20,000, fifth is Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai with $18,000 and tied for sixth with $16,000 each are USA’s Ryan Doherty/John Hyden and Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak.
   
Women's rankings/earnings
For the women after five events on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Germany’s Olympic champions Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst are at the top of the current women’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,960 points and Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo is second with 4,936 points. In third with 3,980 points is Gemany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude, fourth with 3,860 points is USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings, and fifth with 3,730 points is Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez.

In the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour women’s earnings after five events, Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo is in the top spot with $40,000 in earnings in one event with one gold medal, second is Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa with $32,000, tied for third are Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas and Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with $20,000 and fifth is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with $16,000. Tied for sixth with $14,100 each in one event are Brazil’s Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini and Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova.

Men's Final Fours
After five men’s tournaments on the 2017 FIVB World Tour regular season schedule, 13 countries have at least one final four placement. Leading with three final four placements is the United States (one bronze medal, two fourth place finishes) and tied for second with two each are Brazil (one gold medal, one silver medal), Australia (one gold medal, one silver medal), Germany (two fourth place finishes), Poland (one silver medal, one bronze medal) and Russia (one gold medal, one bronze medal) and tied for seventh with one final four placement each are Austria (one silver medal), Cuba (one gold medal), Estonia (one bronze medal), Italy (one silver medal), Netherlands (one gold medal), New Zealand (one bronze medal), and Serbia (one fourth place finish).

Women's Final Fours
After five women’s FIVB World Tour events to date on the 2017 calendar, eight countries have earned at least one final four finish. Leader in final four placements with five is Germany (one silver medal, two bronze medals, two fourth place finishes) while second with four final four placements is Brazil (two gold medals, one silver medal, one fourth place finish). Third with three is Australia (one silver medal, two bronze medals), tied for fourth with two each are Austria (one bronze medal, one fourth place finish), Canada (two gold medals) and the United States (one gold medal, one fourth place finish) and seventh with one final four placement are China (one silver medal) and the Czech Republic (one silver medal).

Men's winning percentage/match wins
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after five events on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar with a minimum of five matches played, the co-leaders at 100.00 per cent is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho (8-0) and Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (5-0) while tied for third at 85.7 per cent are USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena  (6-1) and Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (6-1), Fifth at 83.3 per cent is Australia’s Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann (5-1). And tied for sixth at 80.0 per cent each are Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai (8-2), USA’s Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb (4-1) and Poland’s Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (4-1). Ninth at 77.8 per cent is Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (7-2), 10th at 75.0 per cent is Australia’s Cole Durant/Zachery Schubert (6-2) and 11th at 72.7 per cent is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin (8-3).

With eight match wins this season through five events on the 2017 FIVB World Tour, co-leading this category are Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho (8-0), Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai (8-2) and Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin (8-3). Tied for third with seven match wins each are Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartoz Losiak (7-2) and USA’s Trevor Crabb/Sean Rosenthal (7-3) and tied for fifth with six match wins each are USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (6-1), Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (6-1), Australia’s Cole Durant/Zachery Schubert (6-2), Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin (6-5) and Switzerland’s Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger (6-5).

Women's winning percentage/match wins
Based on percentage, statistically, in women’s action after five events on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar with a minimum of five matches played, the leader at 85.7 per cent is Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca (6-1), second at 83.3 per cent is Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas (10-2) and tied for third at 80.0 per cent are Canada’s Julie Gordon/Camille Saxton (8-2), Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Jessyka Ngauamo (4-1), China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue (4-1) and USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross (4-1). Tied for seventh at 71.4 per cent are USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (5-2), Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa (5-2), Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (5-2). Tied for 10th at 66.7 per cent are USA’s Kim DiCello/Emily Stockman (6-3), Brazil’s Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini (6-3) and USA’s Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar (6-3), Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova/Nadezda Makroguzova (4-2), USA’s Kelly Claes/Kelly Reeves (4-2) and Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Carolina Horta (4-2).

For the women in match wins following five events on the 2017 FIVB calendar, the leader with 10 match wins is Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas (10-2), second with eight match wins  Canada’s Julie Gordon/Camille Saxton (8-2) and tied for third with six match wins each are Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca (6-1), USA’s Kim DiCello/Emily Stockman (6-3), USA’s Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar (6-3) and Brazil’s Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini. Tied for seventh with five match wins each are USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (5-2), Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (5-2), Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa (5-2), Germany’s Kim Behrens/Anni Schumacher (5-3), Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapiova (5-3), Russia’s Anastasia Barsuk/Evgeniya Ukolova (5-3), Netherlands’ Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe (5-3) and Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider (5-3).

On the horizon
Following the FIVB Xiamen 3-Star event will be the double-gender FIVB Rio de Janeiro 4-Star event in Brazil (May 17-21) followed by the double-gender FIVB Lucerne 4-Star event in Switzerland (May 23-28) and the FIVB Moscow 3-Star event in Russia (May 31-June 4).

Growing history
The double-gender FIVB Rio 4-Star event will be the 358th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 319th FIVB women’s tournament since their competition started in 1992.

FIVB 2017
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar features a purse of US$5.61 million with a season that extends from February to August, competing at 25 venues in 19 countries. The calendar involves a new star-rating system with three 5-Star events, all which are part of the FIVB Swatch Major Series portion of the schedule, three 4-Star events, six 3-Star events, four 2-Star events and seven 1-Star events and the special Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals in Hamburg, Germany (Aug. 22-27). The showcase event will be the $1,000,000 2017 FIVB World Championships in Vienna, Austria (July 28-Aug. 6).

There will also be the FIVB U21 World Championships in Nanjing, China (July 11-16).
The 2017 portion of the 2018 FIVB World Tour calendar will start in October in Qinzhou, China with one more women’s only event in October in Phuket, Thailand.

FIVB EVENT FORMAT
The new format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments using the Star System from 1-5 has qualifying and a 32-team single-elimination tournament for 5-Star tournaments starting with qualifying followed by pool play and then single elimination knockout rounds. The 1-Star through 4-Star tournaments will modify as needed the basic format to accommodate the particular event with most having a single-elimination tournament. Country Quota playoffs returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.