PRESS INFO for immediate release Fédération Internationale de Volleyball [email protected] Telephone: +41-21 345 35 35 SWATCH-FIVB WORLD TOUR TAKES FOUR-WEEK BREAK Lausanne, Switzerland, September 19 - The 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour will be idle for the next four weeks before resuming play with the final two double gender events starting with the US$400,000 Brazilian Open in Salvador October 18-23. Following the Salvador stop, the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour returns to Acapulco October 25-30 as the world’s best men’s and women’s Beach Volleyball players compete on the Playa Tamarindos for the first-time since 1999 when Mexico hosted the inaugural qualifying event for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. While the men’s competition was at the start of a six-week break between events, the women held their 13th SWATCH-FIVB World Tour stop this past week in Indonesia where Brazil’s Renata Ribeiro and Talita Antunes validated their gold medal success in Athens at the start of September with a Bali title Sunday. With their 21-19 and 27-25 Bali championship win over the “legendary” Brazilian tandem of Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede, Renata and Talita are now 2-2 in gold medal matches this season. Their first three title matches were against Brazilian rivals Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, the top-ranked team on the 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour. Juliana and Larissa, who have won five SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medals this season enroute to clinching the women’s season points title, skipped the Indonesia event after playing in 12 events over a 16-week period. The young Brazilians, who have amassed 5,284 points for a 1,540-point lead over Tian Jia and Fei Wang of China, have shared $333,750 this year for the best-ever single-season earnings mark for women or men internationally. While Brazil was guaranteed the top two podium spots at the US$200,000 Indonesia Women's Open 2005, Greece’s Thalia Koutroumanidou and Maria Tsiartsiani scored a 21-17, 17-21 and 15- 13 win over Leila Barros and Ana Paula Connelly to deny the South American country their sixth 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour women’s medal sweep Sunday. Koutroumanidou and Tsiartsiani had placed 25th at the Athens event two weeks ago. After claiming their record 16th SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medal together in Athens, Brazil’s Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos have regained the men’s points lead as the reigning Olympic champions seek to win their third-straight season points title. Emanuel had previously set the team title record with Ze Marco de Melo (1995-1997) and tied it with Jose Loiola (1998-2000). Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes, who captured the SWATCH-FIVB World Championships earlier this season in Berlin, entered the Athens event with a 128-point lead over Emanuel and Ricardo, but their fifth-place finish allowed their Brazilian rivals to add 200 more points to their total to seize control (4,168-4,096). The men’s 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour is scheduled to end the season with events in Dubai (November 14-18) and Cape Town, South Africa (November 23-27). Cape Town will also be the site of the women’s 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour season finale. It will be the first-ever international women’s event on the African continent. Avenue de la Gare 12 P.O. Box, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland Page 1 of 6 FIVB Communication FAX Telephone: +41 21 345 35.45 For more Beach Volleyball news visit www.fivb.org PRESS INFO for immediate release Fédération Internationale de Volleyball [email protected] Telephone: +41-21 345 35 35 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour Leaders (Through September 18, 12 men’sand 13 women’s events) Men’s Rank, Team, Titles, Earnings Women’s Rank, Team, Titles, Earnings 1, Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 4, $257,100 1, Larissa Franca/Juliana Felisberta Silva, Brazil, 5, $333,750 2, Marcio Araujo/Fabio Magalhaes, Brazil, 2, $226,700 2, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 4, $177,000 3, Harley Marques/Benjamin Insfran, Brazil, 1, $173,850 3, Jia Tian/Fei Wang, China, $173,500 4, Julius Brink/Kjell Schneider, Germany, 1, $130,350 4, Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, Brazil, $156,900 5, Christoph Dieckmann/Andreas Scheuerpflug, Germany, 2, $128,000 5, Vasso Karadassiou/Vassiliki Arvaniti, Greece, 1, $143,000 6, Martin Laciga/Markus Egger, Switzerland, 1, $123,600 6, Renata Ribeiro/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 2, $140,750 7, Markus Dieckmann/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, $118,150 7, Thalia Koutroumanidou/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, $102,700 8, Stefan Kobel/Patrick Heuscher, Switzerland, 1, $115,750 8, Rebekka Kadijk/Merel Mooren, Netherlands, $99,600 9, Paul Laciga/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, $99,450 9, Simone Kuhn/Lea Schwer, Switzerland, $90,100 10, Nikolas Berger/Clemens Doppler, Austria, $71,200 10, Ana Paula Connelly/Leila Barros, Brazil, $88,900 11, Iver Horrem/Bard-Inge Pettersen, Norway, $66,750 11, Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau, Germany, $77,800 12, Martin Conde/Jose Salema, Argentina, $64,850 12, Elaine Youngs/Rachel Wacholder, United States, $72,400 Men’s Rank, Team, Points Women’sRank, Team, Points 1, Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 4,168 1, Larissa Franca/Juliana Felisberta Silva, Brazil, 5,284 2, Marcio Araujo/Fabio de Jesus Magalhaes, Brazil, 4,096 2, Jia Tian/Fei Wang, China, 3,744 3, Harley Marques/Benjamin Insfran, Brazil, 3,504 3, Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, Brazil, 3,272 4, Julius Brink/Kjell Schneider, Germany, 2,704 4, Vasso Karadassiou/Vassiliki Arvaniti, Greece, 2,952 5, Martin Laciga/Markus Egger, Switzerland, 2,456 5, Rebekka Kadijk/Merel Mooren, Netherlands, 2,596 6, Markus Dieckmann/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 2,408 6, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 2,520 7, Christoph Dieckmann/Andreas Scheuerpflug, Germany, 2,380 7, Thalia Koutroumanidou/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 2,360 8, Stefan Kobel/Patrick Heuscher, Switzerland, 2,320 8, Renata Ribeiro/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 2,352 9, Paul Laciga/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 2,236 9, Simone Kuhn/Lea Schwer, Switzerland, 2,300 10, Nikolas Berger/Clemens Doppler, Austria, 1,780 10, Ana Paula Connelly/Leila Barros, Brazil, 2,192 11, Martin Conde/Jose Salema, Argentina, 1,732 11, Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau, Germany, 1,904 12, Francisco Alvarez/Oney Ramirez Bernal, Cuba, 1,724 12, Elaine Youngs/Rachel Wacholder, United States, 1,676 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour Schedule & Results Dates Tournament Gender .................................... Gold Medal Team/Purse May 17-22 Cup China Jinshan Open, Shanghai W ..................Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil May 17-22 Cup China Jinshan Open, Shanghai M....Christoph Dieckmann/Andreas Scheuerpflug, Germany May 25-29 Japan Open, Osaka W .........................Shaylyn Bedê/Ana Paula Connelly, Brazil June 8-12 VIP Open, Zagreb, Croatia M............................. Marcio Araujo/Fábio Magalhães, Brazil June 8-12 Italy Open, Milan W ....................................................... Juliana/Larissa, Brazil June 14-18 1to1 Energy Open, Gstaad, Switzerland W ....................................................... Juliana/Larissa, Brazil June 15-19 1to1 Energy Open, Gstaad, Switzerland M...............................Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, Brazil June 21-25 SWATCH-FIVB Worlds, Berlin, Germany W ................. Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States June 22-26 SWATCH-FIVB Worlds, Berlin, Germany M................................................Marcio Araujo/Fábio, Brazil June 28-July 2 ConocoPhillips Open, Stavanger, Norway W ...................Vasso Karadassiou/Vassiliki Arvaniti, Greece June 29-July 3 ConocoPhillips Open, Stavanger, Norway M.....................................................Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil July 5-9 St. Petersburg Open, Russia W ....................................................... Juliana/Larissa, Brazil July 6-10 St. Petersburg Open, Russia M.....................................................Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil July 12-16 Portugal Open, Espinho W ................................... May-Treanor/Walsh, United States July 13-17 Portugal Open, Espinho M............................... Julius Brink/Kjell Schneider, Germany July 20-24 Mazury Open, Stare Jablonki M..........................Markus Egger/Martin Laciga, Switzerland July 26-31 Beach Volleyball Paris-Ile de France Grand Slam, Paris W ................................... May-Treanor/Walsh, United States July 26-31 Beach Volleyball Paris-Ile de France Grand Slam, Paris M......................Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel, Switzerland August 3-6 A1 Grand Slam presented by Nokia, Klagenfurt W ................................... May-Treanor/Walsh, United States August 3-7 A1 Grand Slam presented by Nokia, Klagenfurt M..............................C. Dieckmann/Scheuerpflug, Germany August 24-28 Canada Open, Montreal W ....................................................... Juliana/Larissa, Brazil August 24-28 Canada Open, Montreal M...........................Benjamin Insfran/Harley Marques, Brazil August 30-September 3 INFOTE Athens Open, Greece W ............................... Renata Ribeiro/Talita Antunes, Brazil August 31-September 4 INFOTE Athens Open, Greece M.....................................................Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil September 14-18 Indonesia Women's Open 2005, Bali W ..........................................................Renata/Talita, Brazil October 18-23 Brazil Open, Salvador M&W.........................................................................$400,000 October 25-30 Corona Acapulco Open, Acapulco M&W.........................................................................$400,000 November 14-18 The Dubai Beach Volleyball