Lausanne, Switzerland, October 26, 2015 — Holding the last of two double-gender events on the 2015 portion of the 2016 calendar last week, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) now takes two weeks off from the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
With the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in high gear, the 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour will conclude with the men’s $75,000 Doha Open in Qatar to be held Nov. 9-13.
Last week saw teams from Italy win the men’s gold medal and the Czech Republic capture the women’s gold medal at the $150,000 FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey. It was the first FIVB World Tour event in Turkey in 17 years, first in Antalya and the fourth overall event in Turkey for men and first for women.
ANTALYA MEN
In the men’s competition last week in Antalya, winning the gold medal with a strong 6-1 record was Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri. Italy’s Carambula/Ranghieri won the gold medal match in straight sets over Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen, 21-19, 21-16 in 36 minutes. It was their first gold medal as a team. Individually, it was the second FIVB gold medal for Ranghieri who won his first with Marco Caminati in April at the FIVB Lucerne Open in Switzerland. It was the first FIVB World Tour silver medal for the veteran Ontiveros/Virgen duo who were playing in their first gold medal match on the tour. This summer, Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen won the gold medal at the Pan American games in Toronto.
In the bronze medal match in Antalya, Latvia’s new team of Martins Plavins/Haralds Regza defeated cousins Marco Grimalt/Esteban Grimalt in straight sets, 21-15, 21-17 in just 33 minutes. As a new team, M. Plavins/Regza won the 2015 CEV championship in June, and this was their first podium finish as a team in just five events on the FIVB World Tour. Individually, Regza, just 23, earned his first podium finish while M. Plavins, 30 a two-time Olympian who won the bronze medal with Janis Smedins at the London 2012 Olympic Games, has nine career podium finishes including four gold medals on the FIVB World Tour.
In the Antalya semifinals, Italy’s Carambula/Ranghieri worked hard to defeat Latvia’s M. Plavins/Regza in two sets, 24-22, 21-19 in 47 minutes and Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen won in two sets over Chile’s Grimalt cousins, 21-16, 21-18 in 37 minutes to advance to the gold medal match.
ANTALYA WOMEN
In the women’s competition in Antalya, Czech Republic’s new team of Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova compiled a perfect 7-0 record, winning the gold medal match over Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, 21-15, 21-17 in 40 minutes. It was the third career FIVB World Tour gold medal for Slukova and second for Hermannova. It was just their fifth FIVB World Tour event as a team with a previous best finish of fifth at the 2015 FIVB Sochi Open in Russia.
In the women’s bronze medal match in Antalya, USA’s Jennifer Kessy/Emily came from behind in three sets to defeat Argentina Olympians Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, 18-21, 21-14 and 15-13 in 62 minutes. For Kessy, who won the silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games with April Ross, and Day, it was their first medal as a team, Kessy’s 34th career FIVB World Tour medal and the second for Day.
To reach the gold medal match in Antalya with their semifinal victories, Czech Republic’s Hermannova/Slukova came back and squeezed by USA’s Kessy/Day in three tough sets, 16-21, 21-15 and 15-13 in 56 minutes while Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth held on in their semi to beat Argentina’s Gallay/Klug in three more tough sets, 21-17, 19-21 and 15-13 in 58 minutes. It was the second straight podium finish to start the 2016 FIVB World Tour for Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth who won the silver medal two weeks ago in Mexico at the FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open.
The FIVB Antalya Open completed the women’s 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour while the men will have one more in November in Doha, Qatar.
MEN’S WINNERS SHARE
Last week’s FIVB Antalya Open men’s champions Carambula/Ranghieri of Italy picked the gold medal purse of $11,000. Mexico’s runner-up Ontiveros/Virgen earned $8,000 in prize money while Latvia’s bronze medalists Plavins/Regza earned $6,000 and Chile’s M. Grimalt/E. Grimalt received $4,500 in prize money for their fourth place finish.
WOMEN’S WINNERS ROLL
Last week’s FIVB Antalya Open women’s champions picked Slukova/Hermannova of Czech Republic, earned the winner’s $11,000 purse. Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth collected the runner-up $8,000 purse to split from their silver medal placement and USA’s Kessy/Day earned $6,000 for their bronze medal finish. Argentina’s fourth place finishers Gallay/Klug won $4,500 in prize money.
MEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
After two events on the 2016 FIVB World Tour, Italy’s Carambula/Ranghieri duo leads the FIVB World Tour point standings with 800 points. Latvia’s M. Plavins/Regza tandem is second in the standings with 6400. Third is Germany’s Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen with 590 points, tied for fourth with 540 points are the teams of Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle and Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak. Sixth is Chile’s Grimalt cousins with 530 points and seventh is USA’s Nick Lucena/Phil Dalhausser with 500 points.
In the 2016 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings after two events, Italy’s Carambula/Ranghieri tandem leads with $14,375 followed in second by USA’s Lucena/Dalhausser lead with $11,000 in prize winnings. Tied for third with $8,000 each are Latvia’s M. Plavins/Regza, Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen and Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and sixth is Germany’s Bockermann/Fluggen duo is fourth with $6,500.
WOMEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
For the women after two 2016 FIVB World Tour events, Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth are at the top of the point list with 850 points, Argentina’s Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug tandem is second with 650, tied for third with 540 points for each team are Austria’s Barbara Hansel/Stefanie Schwaiger and France’s Alexandra Jupiter/Laura Longuet and tied for fifth with 500 points for each team are Czech Republic’s Slukova/Hermannova and Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst.
In the 2016 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings after two events, Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth is in the top spot with $14,000, tied for second with $11,000 for each team are Czech Republic’s Slukova/Hermannova and Germany’s Ludwig/Walkenhorst, fourth is Brazil’s Eduarda Lisboa/Elize Maia with $8,000 and fifth is Argentina’s Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug with $7,875 in 2016 FIVB earnings.
MEN’S FINAL FOURS
In two men’s tournament in 2016 on the FIVB competition calendar, seven countries have at least one final four placement. Leader with two final four placements is Germany (one bronze medal, one fourth place finish) and tied for second with one each is Chile (one fourth place), Italy (one gold medal), Latvia (one bronze medal), Mexico (one silver medal), the Netherlands (one silver medal) and the United States (one gold medal).
WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS
In two women’s FIVB international events on the 2016 calendar, seven countries earned at least one final four finish. At the top with a final four placements is Italy (one silver medal, one bronze and tied for second with one each are Argentina (one fourth place finish), Brazil (one silver medal), Czech Republic (one gold medal), Germany (one gold medal), Netherlands (one fourth place finish) and the United States (one bronze medal).
MEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after two events on the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar, the leader at 100.0% is USA’s Lucena/Dalhausser (7-0) while tied for second at 85.7% are Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen (6-1) and Netherlands’ Brouwer/Meeuwsen (6-1) third at 83.3% is Italy’s Ranghieri/Carambula (10-2) at 80.0% each are USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne (4-1), Netherlands’ Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst (4-1) and and Germany’s Tim Holler/Jonas Schroder (4-1).
With 10 match wins this season so far, leading that category is Italy’s Carambula/Ranghieri (10-2) while second with nine wins is Latvia’s M. Plavins/Regza (9-3), third with eight wins is Austria’s Christoph Dressler/Thomas Kunert (8-4) and tied for fourth with seven wins each are USA’s Lucena/Dalhausser (7-0), Germany’s Bockermann/Fluggen (7-4), Poland’s Kantor/Losiak (7-4), Belgium’s Koekelkoren/van Walle (7-4) and Canada’s Grant O’Gorman/Sam Pedlow (7-5).
WOMEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in women’s action after two events on the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar, the co-leaders at 100.0% are Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst (7-0) and Czech Republic’s Hermannova/Slukova (7-0), while tied for third at 85.7% are Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth (12-2) and USA’s Jennifer Kessy/Emily Day (6-1) and tied for fifth at 80.0% each are Vanuatu’s Miller/Matauatu (4-1) and Netherlands’ Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema (4-1).
For the women in match wins following two events on the 2016 FIVB calendar, leading with 12 match wins is Italy’s Menegatti/Orsi Toth while second in match wins with eight is Argentina’s Gallay/Klug (8-4). Tied for third with seven match wins are Germany’s Ludwig/Walkenhorst (7-0) and Czech Republic’s Slukova/Hermannova (7-0). Tied for fifth with six wins each so far are USA’s Kessy/Day (6-1), Brazil’s Lisboa/Elize Maia (6-2), Austria’s Hansel/S. Schwaiger (6-3), and France’s Jupiter/Longuet (6-5).
ON THE HORIZON
Placement points for the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continued last week at the $150,000 FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey. It was the final double-gender tournament on the 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour. Taking two weeks off, the 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour concludes with the men’s only $75,000 FIVB Doha Open in Qatar (Nov. 9-13). The remainder of the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar resumes with the double-gender FIVB Vitoria Open in Brazil (Jan. 26-31).
GROWING HISTORY
The FIVB Doha Open will be the 332nd men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 296th FIVB women’s tournament since they started competition in 1992.
FIVB 2015-2016
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar featured a record purse of US$9.6 million with a season that extended from late April to late September, competing at 20 venues in 15 countries. The schedule included five FIVB Grand Slams, the new Swatch FIVB Major Series of four events, four FIVB Opens and the special $500,000 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals in the United States. A showcase event was the $1 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.
The 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar started in October in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and includes two more open events prior to the remainder of the schedule resuming after the first of the year.
The Olympic qualification process began in 2015 with all FIVB World Tour events (except the Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine 15 spots for each gender that will take part in each 24-team field in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on Copacabana Beach in Brazil.
FIVB WORLD TOUR PURSES
The FIVB Grand Slam and Swatch FIVB Major Series competitions, all double-gender each have $800,000 in total purses. The total purse FIVB World Championships the Netherlands 2015 was $1,000,000 and $500,000 will be the total for the Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final which will feature the top eight teams in each gender and two wild card teams.
The seven FIVB Open tournaments in 2015, six double-gender, and one women’s only, had $150,000 total purses for the double gender events and $75,000 for the single-gender competitions. The gold medal teams in each gender at FIVB Open tournaments each split $11,000, the silver $8,000, the bronze $6,000 and fourth place $4,500.
FIVB EVENT FORMAT
Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds. Country Quota playoffs have returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.