Lausanne, Switzerland, September 12, 2017 - It may be September but the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) has already launched its 2017/18 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with the men’s season-opener. Last week, the World Tour opened with an event in Montpellier, France. There are currently four total events listed on the 2017 portion of the new season of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
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Winning the men’s gold medal last week in Montpellier with an unbeaten 4-0 match record was Slovenia’s sixth-seeded Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak who defeated the Czech Republic’s eighth-seeded Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner in straight sets, 2-0 (26-24, 21-14) in 38 minutes.
It was the first career FIVB World Tour gold medal for Pokersnik/Zemljak, individually and as a team. Pokersnik/Zemljak have now played in nine FIVB World Tour events as a team with their previous best finish was a fifth place in Anapa, Russia in 2013. It was the first medal finish in 10 FIVB World Tour events for the Czech Republic’s Perusic/Schweiner.
Earning the men’s bronze medal in Montpellier was France’s fourth-seeded Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou who held off Serbia’s 10th-seeded qualifiers Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric in three sets, 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 15-12) in 47 minutes. Playing in just their seventh World Tour event as a team, it was the second medal finish for the French duo who won the FIVB gold medal together this year in Agadir, Morocco.
France's exuberant Quincy Aye is hoisted in victory celebration by teammate Youssef Krou in front of their hometown fans after winning the bronze medal in Montpellier.In the Montpellier semifinals, Slovenia’s Pokersnik/Zemljak advanced to the gold medal match by coming from behind to defeat Serbia’s Klasnic/Kolaric in three sets, 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-11) in 55 minutes and Czech Republic’s Perusic/Schweiner advanced by fighting off France’s Aye/Krou in three sets, 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-12) in 47 minutes.
Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik was selected as the men’s Most Outstanding Player of the FIVB Montpellier 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
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 Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin with 2,560 points, 13th is USA’s Ryan Doherty/John Hyden with 2,480 points,14th is Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins with 2,440 points and 15th is Netherlands’Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen with 2,400 points.
2017 FIVB World Ranking - MenMen's earnings
In the 2018 FIVB World Tour men’s earnings after one event, Slovenia’s duo Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak leads with $2,000 in one event with one gold medal, second is Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner with $1,500 in one event, third is France’s Aye/Krou with $1,200 in one event, fourth is Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric with $900 in one event and tied for fifth with $500 each in one event are Austria’s Daniel Mullner/Florian Schnetzer, Norway’s Mathias Berntsen/Svein Solhaug, Norway’s Anders Mol/Christian Sortum and Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov.
Slovenia's Nejc Zemljak, left and Jan Pokersnik reached the top of the podium as gold medal winners at the 2018 season-opening FIVB Montpellier event in France.
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 Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova with 3,032 points, eighth is Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre with 2,940 points, ninth is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with 2,700 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.
2017 FIVB World Ranking - WomenMen's final fours
After one men’s tournament on the 2018 FIVB World Tour, four countries had at least one final four placement. Tied for first with one final four placement each are Slovenia (one gold medal), Czech Republic (one silver medal), France (one bronze medal) and Serbia (one fourth place finish)
Men's winning percentage
Based on percentage, statistically, after one men’s events on the 2018 FIVB World Tour with a minimum of one match played, 2018 leader at 100.0% is Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak (4-0), tied for second at 75.0% are France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou (3-1), Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (3-1) and Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov (3-1) and tied for fifth at 66.7% each are Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric (4-2), Netherlands’ Ruben Penninga/Tom van Steenis (2-1) and France’s Adrian Carvano/Yann Faure (2-1).
Men's match wins
With four match wins each in the 2018 FIVB World Tour standings after one event are Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak (4-0) and Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric (4-2) and tied for third with three match wins each are France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou (3-1), Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (3-0) and Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov (3-1).
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 continues in four weeks in Qinzhou, China with a double-gender 3-Star event (October 11-15) followed by the double-gender FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star event (October 25-29) in the Netherlands and concludes the 2017 portion with the double-gender FIVB Sydney 2-Star event (November 22-26) in Australia.
Growing history
The Qinzhou 3-star will be the 369th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 333rd women’s tournament since the FIVB launched women’s competition started in 1992.