Lausanne, Switzerland, June 20, 2017 — The FIVB held the ninth, 10th and 11th events overall on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar last week, including tournaments in the Netherlands, China and the Principality of Monaco.
The three events were the double-gender event in The Hague, the women’s only event in Jiangning, Nanjing, and the women's only event in Monaco.
A men’s team from Russia won the gold medal in The Hague. Women's gold in the Dutch event went to Brazil, while winning women’s gold in China was a team from the United States and claiming the women’s top spot in Monaco was another team from Brazil.
This week, the 2017 FIVB World Tour features the women’s only FIVB Nantong event from Friday, June 23 to Sunday, June 25. After that, a pair of events on the Swatch FIVB Major Series portion of the tour will be held with back-to-back double-gender events in Porec, Croatia and Gstaad, Switzerland.
FIVB THE HAGUE MEN
Winning the men’s gold medal at the FIVB The Hague event with a perfect 6-0 match record was Russia’s seventh-seeded Nikita Liamin/Viacheslav Krasilnikov who stopped Spain’s sixth-seeded Olympians Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera in two tough overtime sets, 2-0 (23-21, 22-20) in 43 minutes. It was the third career FIVB World Tour gold medal for Krasilnikov, second for Liamin and second for the Krasilnikov/Liamin team, both in 2017.
Earning the men’s bronze medal in The Hague was Italy’s 11th-seeded Olympians Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai who stopped Switzerland’s surprising 20th-seeded Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) in 35 minutes.
FIVB THE HAGUE WOMEN
Winning the women’s gold medal at the FIVB The Hague event with an amazing 9-0 match record was Brazil’s 15th-seeded qualifiers Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado who beat Switzerland’s 17th-seeded Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre in two sets 2-0 (21-17, 21-11) in 39 minutes. It was the 12th career FIVB gold medal for Antonelli, the third for Carolina and the first FIVB gold medal for Antonelli/Carolina as a team.
Earning the women’s bronze medal in The Hague was Brazil’s fourth-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa who came from behind to defeat Canada’s 10th-seeded Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes in three sets 2-1 (16-21, 21-13, 15-11) in 47 minutes.
FIVB JIANGNING WOMEN
Winning the women’s gold medal at the FIVB Jiangning event with an unblemished 5-0 match record was USA’s surprising 15th-seeded Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen who beat China’s home-standing 24th-seeded Shuhui Wen/Xinyi Xia in two sets 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) in only 33 minutes. It was the first career FIVB gold medal for both Flint and Larsen.
Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen claimed gold in ChinaEarning the women’s bronze medal in Jiangning was Lithuania’s youthful fifth-seeded Leva Dumbauskaite/Monika Povilaityte who held off Czech Republic’s more experienced 22nd-seeded Marina Bonnerova/Sarka Nakladalova in three sets, 2-1 (25-23, 17-21, 15-17) in 45 minutes.
FIVB MONACO WOMEN
Winning the women’s gold medal at the FIVB Monaco 1-Star event with an unblemished 4-0 match record in their first FIVB World Tour event as a team was Brazil’s third-seeded Juliana Felisberta/Carol Horta who upset Germany’s top-seeded Kim Behrens/Anni Schumacher in three sets 2-1 (21-16, 15-21, 15-13) in 46 minutes. It was the 48th career FIVB gold medal for Juliana and the first for her partner.
Juliana was one of the key players in Monaco, topping the podium with her partnerEarning the women’s bronze medal in Monaco was Greece’s fifth-seeded Penny Karagkouni/Konstantina Tsopoulou who held off New Zealand’s 10th-seeded Shaunna Polley/Kelsie Wills in three sets 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-9) in 39 minutes.
MEN’S RANKINGS
Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins tandem leads this week’s FIVB World Rankings with 3,680 points while USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena is second with 3,240 points. Third is Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 2,732 points, fourth is Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera with 2,720 points and fifth is Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin with 2,572 points.
Sixth is Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen with 2,560 points, seventh is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho with 2,532, eighth is Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak with 2,410, ninth is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin with 2,380 points and 10th is Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolia with 2,280 points.
WOMEN’S RANKINGS
For the women after 10 events on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo is at the top of the current women’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,020 points and second is Gemany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with 2,880 points, third is Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova with 2,780 points, fourth is Germany’s Olympic champions Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst with 2,716 points and fifth is Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa with 2,552 points.
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