Lausanne, Switzerland, December 15, 2014 – Officially determined by the season’s final event, Latvia and Brazil ended the 2014 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Beach Volleyball World Season Rankings as number one in men’s and women’s competition respectively. The FIVB season of play ended this past week with a double-gender FIVB Mangaung Open in South Africa.
Finishing No. 1 in the 2014 FIVB Season World Rankings and the 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings are Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins for the men and Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli for the women.
On the international stage, the 10 FIVB World Tour Grand Slams and the six FIVB Opens have been contested as teams from around the globe finished the midway point of a new Olympic cycle on the road to the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. Part of the numerous initiatives of the newer FIVB administration, the FIVB World Season Rankings include FIVB World Tour/FIVB Open events along with approved Confederation, and National Federation points. Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins won the FIVB World Season Rankings for the second straight year and added the 2014 FIVB World Tour season point title to their treasure chest for the first time.
The legendary Juliana won the FIVB World Season Rankings as did Antonelli for the first time and while Antonelli won the FIVB World Tour Point title for the first time it was the eighth champion for Juliana in her illustrious career and first time without her old teammate Larissa Franca who is now competing with Talita Antunes.
Following last week’s visit to South Africa, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will now be off until April when the calendar of its 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour begins anew in China.
MANGAUNG WINNERS
Dutch duo Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst and Martina Bonnerova/Barbora Hermannova of the Czech Republic ended the 2014 season perfectly on Sunday with a golden crown at the FIVB World Tour Beach Volleyball Mangaung Open. The FIVB Mangaung Open was the 314th FIVB men’s tournament since its first event in 1987 and the 277th FIVB women’s tournament since the FIVB began women’s competitions in 1992
MANGAUNG MEN
The Dutch defeated Chilean cousins Esteban and Marco Grimalt , 21-18, 21-18 in the final. France’s Youssef Krou and Edouard Rowlandson won the men’s bronze medal. It was the second FIVB gold medal as a team for the Dutch tandem and they came in just three events played as a team. While it was just the second career FIVB gold medal for the young Varenhorst, it was the 11th career FIVB gold medal for two-time Olympian Nummerdor to make him the winningest FIVB beach volleyball player in the Netherlands.
MANGAUNG WOMEN
Czech Republic’s Bonnerova/Hermannova grabbed the women’s gold medal with a 21-15, 21-17 win over Japan’s Takemi Nishibori and Sayaka Mizoe, while Russia’s Evgenia Ukolova/Maria Prokopeva claimed the women’s bronze medal. For the Czech Republic team it was the first medal and first FIVB gold medal for both Bonnerova and Hermannova.
WINNERS POINTS/PURSE
Last week’s FIVB Mangaung Open men’s champions Bonnerova/Hermannova of the Czech Republic and Netherlands’ Nummerdor/Varenhorst each earned 500 points on the FIVB World Tour and each team picked up the gold medal purse of $11,000. The silver medalists earned 450 valuable points in the FIVB World Season Rankings and the FIVB World Tour points as well as earning $8,000.. The bronze medalists each garnered 400 points and $6,000.
FIVB WORLD SEASON RANKINGS
Latvia’s Amoilovs/J. Smedins won the men’s 2014 FIVB World Season Rankings with 6,500 points followed by USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal with 5,440, Brazil’s Bruno Oscar Schmidt/Alison Cerutti with 5,330, Poland’s Gregorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel with 5,228, and Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira completed the top 5 with 4,982.
For the women, Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli were first with 6,740 points, followed by Argentina’s Georgina Klub/Ana Gallay with 5,712, Brazil’s Barbara Seixas/Agatha Bednarczu with 5,660, USA’s Karri Walsh Jennings/April Ross with 5,420 and completing the top five women’s teams in the 2014 FIVB World Season Rankings was Netherlands’ Marleen Van Iersel/Madelein Meppelink with 5,3564 points.
MEN’S FIVB WORLD TOUR POINTS/EARNINGS
Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins ended at the top of the men’s point leader board with 5,770 points. USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal duo, is second with 5,440 points in the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings followed by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 5,330, Poland’s Mariusz Prudel/Grzegorz Fijalek fourth with 4,600 and fifth was USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with 4,280,.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings, the top team was USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with $318,000 followed by Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with $241,000, Poland’s Fijalek/Prudel third with $240,000, Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins fourth with $233,500 and Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai fifth with $187,000.
WOMEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
For the women, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli pair finished at the top with 6,740 points followed by Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas with 5,660, USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings third with 5,420, China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue fourth with 4,950, Netherland’s Marleen van Iersel/Madelein Meppelin fifth with 4,640, sixth was Germany’s Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler with 4,610 and seventh was Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe with 4,580.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings, ending up in the lead wass USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with $282,000 followed by Brazil’s Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli second with $261,375, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas third with $233,000, Germany’s Holtwick/Semmler fourth with $214,000 and Brazil’s Larissa France/Talita Antunes fifth with $210,000. Returning to the tour after more than a year away, Larissa returned to FIVB World Tour with Talita as a teammate midway through the season the dynamic duo competed as a team in just six events, but won four of them to reach the top five in earnings.
MEN’S FINAL FOURS
In 17 men’s tournaments in 2014 on the FIVB World Tour, 17 countries have at least one final four placement. With 11 final four placements to pace the way were Brazil (two gold medals, four silver medals, two bronze medals, three fourth places) and the United States (four gold medals, two silver medals, four bronze, one fourth). With seven final four placements each was Germany (one gold, one bronze, five fourths) while Latvia had six medals (two gold medals, two silvers, two fourth places) followed by Italy with five (two gold medals, two silver medals, one fourth). With four final four placements were Canada (one gold, one silver, one bronze, one fourth place), Poland (one gold, two silver, one bronze) and Russia (one gold, one silver, one bronze, one fourth). With three medals each were Switzerland (two bronze medals, one fourth), France (one gold, two bronze) and the Netherlands (two gold, one bronze). Chile had two medals (two silver) while Australia (bronze). Austria (fourth), Kazakhstan (fourth), Mexico (bronze) and Spain had the other final four placements with one final four for each country.
WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS
In 17 women’s events this year, 13 countries earned at least one final four finish. Brazil led among the women with 23 final four placements (seven gold medals, seven silver medals, four bronze medals and five fourths), Germany has 11 final fours (three gold medals, four silvers, three bronzes and one fourth). The United States had seven final fours (four gold medals, one bronze, two fourths), China has five (two silvers, two bronze, one fourth) as did Czech Republic (three gold medals, one bronze, one fourth). With four was Spain (one silver, three fourths). Netherlands had three final four finishes (two bronze, one fourth) along with Russia (one silver medal, two bronze) while with two final fours were Italy (one silver, one fourth place) and the Slovak Republic (two bronze medals). Austria (one fourth), Greece (one fourth), Japan (one silver) each had one final four finish.
MEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after 17 events, USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal led for the season with a 48-10 record (82.8% winning percentage) followed by Canada’s Binstock/Schachter with a 24-9 record (72.7%), Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt third with a 47-18 mark (72.3%), while four was Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo at 36-14 (72.0%), fifth was USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with a 43-17 mark (71.7%) and sixth was Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with a 50-20 record (71.4%). The 50 match wins by Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins was the most by any men’s team on the 2014 FIVB World Tour while with 48 wins was USA’s Rosenthal/Dalhausser second and third was Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with 47 wins.
WOMEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
For the women after 17 events on the 2014 FIVB World Tour, Brazil’s newest team of Larissa/Talita at 35-4 (89.7%) led while second was USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings with a 49-6 record (89.1%), third was Czech Republic’s Marketa Slukova/Kristyna Kolocova with a 39-12 record (76.5%), fourth was Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli with a 71-22 record (76.3%) while fifth was Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas at 50-19 (72.5%). The 71 match wins by Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli was the most by any team on this year’s FIVB World Tour. Among women, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas had the second-most wins with 50 and third was USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with 49 match wins. Brazil’s Talita actually had the third best winning percentage as well, having started the season with Taiana Lima before changing to Larissa. With Lima, who with Talita won the FIVB World Tour point title last year, the duo had a 23-7 match record (76.7%) this year before Talita switched to teaming with Larissa.
FIVB 2015
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar will feature a record purse of US$9.3 million with a season that extends from late April to mid-December competing at 18 venues in 17 countries. The pre-Olympic 2015 season will have six FIVB Grand Slams, a new FIVB Major Series involving four tournaments, a special FIVB World Tour Finals in the United States and six FIVB Opens, totaling 17 tournaments.
The double gender FIVB Fuzhou Open, which was the first event on this year’s calendar, will again begin the 2015 season on April 21-26. From June 26-July 5 all eyes will be on the Dutch cities of The Hague, Apeldoorn, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, which will host the $1 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in The Netherlands.
NEXT GEN
As part of the initiatives of FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° and his leadership team, the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball international calendar also included a record four age-group FIVB World Championships and the 2014 Nanjing (China) Youth Olympic Games Aug. 17-27).
Poland’s Maciej Kosiak/Maciej Rudol won the men’s gold medal for the home country and Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird capturing the women’s gold medal for the second annual FIVB U23 World Championships in Myslowice, Poland. Capturing the gold medals in the inaugural FIVB U17 World Championships in Acapulco, Mexico were Switzerland’s Florian Breer/Yves Haussener and USA’s Morgan Martin/Kathryn Plummer. Winning the 14th FIVB U21 World Championships in Larnaka, Cyprus were Poland’s Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak and Canada’s Sophie Bukovec/Tiadora Miric. The 13th FIVB U19 World Championships in Porto Portugal were won by Brazil’s Arthur Mariano/George Wanderley for the men and in the women’s competition the winners were Brazil’s Andressa Cavalanti/Eduarda Lisboa.
Men’s All-Time FIVB Season Point Champions
Season Point Champions, Country
1989-90 Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos, United States
1990-91 Smith/Stoklos, United States
1991-92 Smith/Stoklos, United States
1992-93 Smith/Stoklos, United States
1993-94 Franco Neto/Roberto Lopes, Brazil
1994-95 Jan Kvalheim/Bjorn Maaseide, Norway
1995-96 Franco/Roberto Lopes, Brazil
1996 Zé Marco de Melo/Emanuel Rego, Brazil
1997 Zé Marco/Emanuel, Brazil
1998 Para Ferreira/Guilherme Marquez, Brazil
1999 Emanuel/José Loiola, Brazil
2000 Zé Marco/Ricardo Santos, Brazil
2001 Emanuel/Tande Ramos, Brazil
2002 Mariano Barcetti/Martin Conde, Argentina
2003 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2004 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2005 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2006 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2007 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2008 Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil
2009 Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany
2010 Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States
2011 Alison Cerutti/Emanuel, Brazil
2012 Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States
2013 Pedro Salgado/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil
2014 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
Men’s All-Time FIVB World Season Rankings Champions
Year Team, Country
2013 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
2014 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
Women’s All-Time FIVB Season Point Champions
Season Point Champions, Country
1992-93 Karolyn Kirby/Nancy Reno, United States
1993-94 Kirby/Liz Masakayan, United States
1994-95 Monica Rodrigues/Adriana Samuel, Brazil
1995-96 Sandra Pires/Jackie Silva, Brazil
1996 Pires/Silva, Brazil
1997 Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, Brazil
1998 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
1999 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2000 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2001 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2002 Misty May/Kerri Walsh, United States
2003 Ana Paula Connelly/Pires, Brazil
2004 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2005 Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa França, Brazil
2006 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2007 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2008 Shelda/Ana Paula, Brazil
2009 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2010 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2011 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2012 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2013 Talita Antunes/Taiana Lima, Brazil
2014 Juliana Felisberta/Talita Antunes
Women’s All-Time FIVB World Season Rankings Champions
Year Team, Country2013 Talita Antunes/Taiana Lima, Brazil
2014 Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli