Lausanne, Switzerland, July 3, 2017 — The FIVB held the 13th event overall on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar last week, the double-gender $600,000 Swatch FIVB Porec Major tournament in Croatia.
Last week in Porec, a team from Brazil won the men’s gold medal in Croatia while a surprising team from Canada earned the women’s top spot on the podium.
This week, the 2017 FIVB World Tour present the third and final Swatch FIVB Major Series portion of the tour with the double gender $600,000 Swatch FIVB Gstaad Major in Switzerland Tuesday through Sunday.
FIVB POREC MEN
Winning the men’s gold medal at the Swatch FIVB Porec Major with a spectacular 9-0 match record coming from a country quota match win to march through qualifying, pool play and the single elimination rounds undefeated was Brazil’s ninth-seeded qualifiers Pedro Solberg/Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes who came from behind to defeat Italy’s 12th-seeded Olympians Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai in three sets, 18-21, 25-23 and 15-9 in 55 minutes. It was the 21st career FIVB World Tour gold medal for Pedro, third for Guto and first for the Pedro/Guto team who were playing in just their fifth FIVB World Tour event as a team.
Guto celebratesEarning the men’s bronze medal in Porec was Brazil’s fifth-seeded Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt who stopped Russia’s 15th-seeded Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin in straight sets, 21-15, 21-18 in 31 minutes.
Brazil’s Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes was selected as the men’s most outstanding player of the Swatch FIVB Porec Major.
FIVB POREC WOMEN
Winning the women’s gold medal at the women’s FIVB Porec Major tournament with an amazing unblemished7-0 match record was Canada’s sixth-seeded Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes who came from behind to upset Czech Republic’s fifth-seeded Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova in three sets, 32-34, 21-12 and 15-6 in 59 minutes, the third longest women’s match in the entire tournament. Playing in just their fifth tournament as a team, it was the first career FIVB gold medal for Pavan/Humana-Paredes both as a team and individually as well.
Humana-Paredes keeps the ball in playEarning the women’s bronze medal in Porec was Switzerland’s ninth-seeded Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli who upset Brazil’s seventh-seeded Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas in straight sets 21-14, 21-19 in 36 minutes.
Nina Betschart stretches for the ballCanada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes was selected as the most outstanding player of the women’s FIVB Porec Major.
MEN’S RANKINGS
After nine men’s events on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins tandem leads this week’s FIVB World Rankings with 3,480 points while Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolia is second with 3,240 points. Third is USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena is with 3,120 points. fourth is Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera with 2,848 points and fifth is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin with 2,780 points.
Sixth is Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin with 2,772 points, seventh is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho with 2,756 points, eighth is Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 2,652 points and ninth is Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen with 2,560 points and 10th is Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak with 2,418.
Men's podium at the Porec MajorWOMEN’S RANKINGS
For the women after 12 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 4,140 points and second is Gemany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with 3,520 points, third is Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova with 3,280 points, fourth is Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa with 2,776 points and fifth is Switzerland’s Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli with 2,676 points.
Sixth is Australia’s Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy with 2,656 points, sevenh is Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas with 2,400, eighth is Canada’s Melissa Humana-Parades/Sarah Pavan with 2,320 points, ninth is Germany’s Olympic champions Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst with 2,156 points and 10th is Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova with 2,142 points.