Fédération Internationale de Volleyball [email protected] Telephone +41.21.345.3535 2018 Season Update Lausanne, Switzerland, April 29, 2018 - The 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World played its 14th men’s and ninth women’s event this past week with the Langkawi One Star in Malaysia. In the men’s competition, Simon Fruhbauer/Jorg Wutzl of Austria captured the gold medal, defeating Russia’s Petr Bakhnar/Taras Myskiv, 21-15, 18-21, and 15-13 in 44 minutes. It was the first career FIVB World Tour title for both Fruhbauer and Wutzl. For the women, Russia’s Ksenia Dabizha/Daria Mastikova won the title by defeating Katja Stam/Julia Wouters of the Netherlands, 21-10 and 29-27 in 34 minutes. It was also the first career FIVB World title for both women. Next week three double-gender events will be played with the Huntington Beach Four Star in the United States from May 2-6, the Mersin Three Star in Turkey from May 2-6 and the Manila One Star in the Philippines from May 3-6. Also on the schedule is the women’s-only Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival 2018 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from May 4- 6. 2018 FIVB Season Men’s & Women’s Highlights The 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour features US$6.80 million in prize money, with three Major Series five-star events, ten four-star events, six three-star events, six two-star events, and 21 one-star events, along with the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals. One age-group FIVB World Championships, for players under the age of 19 will also be played. The 2018 FIVB World Tour began in September of 2017 and concludes in August, 2018. Two events being played in September-October, 2018 in China (Qinzhou and Yangzhou) will be part of the 2019 FIVB World Tour. This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the first FIVB beach volleyball event held February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The gold medal was won by USA’s Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos. The men’s World Tour began in 1989, the women’s in 1992. Smith/Stoklos were the champions of the inaugural season in 1989-90. · The international beach volleyball circuit visits 47 sites in 29 countries over an eleven-month period spanning from September, 2017 to August, 2018. · The 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour features 42 men’s and 43 women’s events within the all five confederations (African, Asian, European, North American, and South American), offering US$6.65 million in prize money. · All three five-star events and the FIVB World Tour Season Final will be for both genders. The combined purse for each of the five-star events is $600,000 and the total purse will be $800,000 for the FIVB World Tour Season Final. · The three five-star events are all FIVB Major Series events, two of which returned to their 2017 sites in United States (Fort Lauderdale) and Switzerland (Gstaad). The new venue for 2017 is Vienna, Austria. · The showcase event on the 2018 FIVB World Tour is the FIVB World Tour Season Final, which will be played in Hamburg, Germany from August 14-19. · Nine of the ten four-star events will be for both genders, while the event in Doha, Qatar was for men only. The double-gender events were played in Netherlands (The Hague), and China (Xiamen), and will be played in the United States (Huntington Beach), Brazil (Itapema), Czech Republic (Ostrava), Poland (TBD), Portugal (Espinho), Japan (Tokyo), and Russia (Moscow). The purse for the four- star events will be $150,000 per gender. One event in Yangzhou, China in October will be part of the 2019 FIVB World Tour. · The three-star events have a purse of $100,000 for each single-gender event and $75,000 per gender for the combined events. The first event for both genders was in China (Qinzhou), and the other three for both genders will be held in Turkey (Mersin), Switzerland (Lucerne), and Morocco (Agadir). The event in Iran (Kish Island) was for men only. One event in Qinzhou, China in September-October will be part of the 2019 FIVB World Tour. · The two-star events have a purse of $50,000 each, either split between two genders or paid to a single gender. The first double-gender event was held in Australia (Sydney) while the next two will be in China (Jinjiang) and Singapore. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nanjing, China and Nantong, China will hold women’s-only events. · The one-star events offer a purse between $5,000 and $10,000 per gender, with the first single-gender event played in France (Montpellier) in September, 2017 for men only. The other single-gender events for women will be held in Vietnam (Tuan Chau Island) and Korea (Daegu and Ulsan), while the events for men-only were played in Oman and the Netherlands (Aalsmeer). Aalsmeer also hosted a double-gender one-star event in October, 2017. The other double-gender events will be held in Australia (Shepparton), Thailand (Satun and Bangkok), Malaysia (Langkawi), Philippines (Manila), Turkey (Aydin, Alanya, Manavgat, and Samsun), Brazil (Miguel Pereira), Austria (Baden), Russia (Anapa), India (Koichi), Slovenia (Ljubljana), and Liechtenstein (Vaduz). · The 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar also includes the FIVB Age Group World Championships for players under the age of 19 in China (Nanjing) from July 11-16. FIVB age-group worlds for U21 and U19 have been held for over a decade, once for U17 and two times for U23. · France opened the FIVB World Tour calendar for the first time in the 32 year history of the tour with the men’s-only FIVB Montpellier One Star from September 7-9, 2017. The first 2018 five-star event will be in the United States (Fort Lauderdale) from February 27-March 4. The first four-star event was held in the Netherlands (The Hague) from January 2-7, the first three-star event was played in China (Qinzhou) from October 11-15, 2017, the first two-star event was held in Australia (Sydney) from November 22-26, 2017, and the first one-star event was held in France (Montpellier) on September 7-9, 2017. FIVB World Rankings (as of May 1, 2018) *Based on the eight (8) best results at all FIVB recognized events over the last 365 days Men (Team Rank, events, points) Women (Team Rank, events, points) 1, Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland, 15*, 5,080 1, Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan, Canada, 11*, 5,820 2, Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, United States, 8, 4,880 2, Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 9*, 4,372 3, Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin, Russia, 13*, 4,360 3, Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 11*, 4,160 3, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, 11*, 4,360 3, Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa, Brazil, 12*, 4,160 5, Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 9*, 4,080 3, Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude, Germany, 14*, 4,160 6, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands, 16*, 4,000 6, Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas, Brazil, 9*, 3,780 7, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 15*, 3,860 7, Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat, United States, 10*, 3,560 8, Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, 12*, 3,736 7, Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova, Czech Republic, 12*, 3,560 9, Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola, Brazil, 10*, 3,700 9, Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli, Switzerland, 15*, 3,360 10, Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 14*, 3,480 10, Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland, 12*, 3,300 11, Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho, Brazil, 14*, 3,320 11, Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado, Brazil, 7, 3,160 12, Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek, Poland, 14*, 3,240 12, Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, 7, 2,976 13, Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter, Canada, 10*, 3,120 13, Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson, Canada, 9*, 2,920 14, Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs, Latvia, 7, 3,010 13, Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes, United States, 8, 2,920 15, Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle, Belgium, 14*, 3,000 15, Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider, Germany, 12*, 2,760 16, Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb, United States, 8, 2,970 16, Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch, Germany, 16*, 2,640 17, Anders Mol/Christian Sorum, Norway, 10*, 2,960 17, Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany, 8, 2,544 18, Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen, Mexico, 10*, 2,920 18, Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger, Germany, 7, 2,320 19, Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes/Pedro Solberg, Brazil, 8, 2,864 19, Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova, Ukraine, 15*, 2,160 20, Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin, Russia, 9*, 2,280 20, Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen, Finland, 7, 2,090 20, Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger, Switzerland, 18*, 2,280 21, Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, 7, 2,000 22, Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann, Australia, 15*, 2,256 22, Lauren Fendrick/April Ross, United States, 5, 1,940 23, Mariusz Prudel/Jakub Szalankiewicz, Poland, 6, 2,200 23, Svetlana Kholomina/Nadezda Makroguzova, Russia, 6, 1,920 24, Marco Caminati/Alex Ranghieri, Italy, 6, 2,160 24, Taiana Lima/Elize Maia, Brazil, 6, 1,884 24, Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou, France, 15*, 2,160 25, Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland, 6, 1,840 2018 FIVB World Tour Points Rankings (through April 29, 2018) Men (Team Rank, events, points) Women (Team Rank, events, points) 1, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands, 5, 2,760 1, Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, 4, 2,240 2, Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs, Latvia, 5, 2,660 2, Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger, Germany, 6, 2,040 3, Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland, 4, 2,480 3, Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas, Brazil, 2, 1,680 4, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 4, 2,240 3, Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa, Brazil, 3, 1,680 5, Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko, Russia, 3, 2,120 5, Alix Klineman/April Ross, United States, 3, 1,640 6, Grant O'Gorman/Ben Saxton, Canada, 5, 2,000 5, Summer