Lausanne, Switzerland, May 11, 2010 - After starting the season in South America and Asia, the SWATCH FIVB World Tour will now stage visit the European continent for the first “major” international stop on the 2010 calendar when Rome hosts the planet’s top men and women Beach Volleyball players May 17-23 at the Parco del Foro Italico. The US$600,000 Foro Italico Beach Volley Grand Slam is also a prelude to the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Championships to be held Parco del Foro Italico June 17-26 when next season the event will be part of the qualifying process for the London 2012 Olympic Games. With more than 180 teams from 35 countries entering the Foro Italico Beach Volley Grand Slam, the final men’s and women’s competition will feature 32-team Qualification Tournaments to determine the last eight Main Draw spots. Both the men’s and women’s Main Draws will feature pool play leading to 24-team single-elimination bracket play for each gender as the winning pairs will share the $43,500 first-place prizes. Teams from Brazil, Germany and the United States have filled the podium spots at the first two SWATCH stops in Brasília (April 24-25) and Shanghai (May 8-9). The Shanghai finales featured the men’s and women’s gold medal teams from the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships in Norway where one was successful and the other not in a pair of three-set matches. With Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado reunited after starting the season with different partners, the Brazilians upset reigning world champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany 21-15, 13-21 and 17-15 in the 62-minute men’s finale. The Shanghai gold medal was Harley’s fourth-straight title in the Chinese port city, including two with Salgado in 2007 and 2008, and one with Alison Cerutti in 2009. The next afternoon, four-time SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil dropped a 15-21, 21-16 and 15-12 gold medal decision to American world champions Jen Kessy and April Ross. It was only Kessy and Ross’ fourth win in 13 SWATCH matches against the Brazilians, who also lost the Stavanger world champion gold medal match to the Americans last July. Despite the Shanghai setback, Juliana and Larissa became the fourth team in SWATCH FIVB World Tour history to post 400 match wins with their 21-14 and 21-11 semi-final win in 36 minutes over Brazilian rivals Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes Sunday. The Brazilian pairs of Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar (587-139, 80.9 percent) and Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos (445-102, 81.4) are the career match win leaders for women and men, respectively. The Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) of Switzerland posted 406-212 (65.7) match wins together. Since forming their partnership in 2004, Juliana and Larissa now have a 400-76 record (84.0 percent) for 74 FIVB events with 58 podium placements. With 47 SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal matches to their credit with 30 wins, Juliana and Larissa rank second all-time for men and women to Adriana and Shelda in title matches played (61). Only the teams of Americans Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh (35), Emanuel/Ricardo (33) and Adriana/Shelda (31) have more SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals than Juliana and Larissa. After the Rome stop, the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar continues with single-gender events in Seoul (women) and Myslowice (men) May 25-30. After a week break, Moscow hosts the second grand slam event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour June 7-14 followed by a men’s-only event in Prague June 15-20. Joining Rome as new Grand Slam stops in 2010 is Stare Jablonki, Poland (August 3-8). The $3.6-million SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam series will also return to Norway (Stavanger, June 28-July 4), Switzerland (Gstaad, July 5-11) and Austria (Klagenfurt, July 26-August 1). With $6.83-million in prize money available, the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar features 14 men’s and 15 women’s events with the season. 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Men’s Leaders (through May 8) 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Women’s Leaders (through May 9) |
