Lausanne, Switzerland, August 5, 2019 - With five weeks left on the international beach volleyball calendar for the 2018-2019 season, the FIVB World Tour will sanction double-gender tournaments this week in Liechtenstein, Hungary and Brazil.
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The FIVB World Tour starts its seventh-straight week of beach volleyball action Tuesday with the Beacharena Vaduz in Liechtenstein. Vaduz has been hosting international events since 2005 with the principality staging an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament for the second-straight season.
On Wednesday, action begins in Hungary and Brazil as the European capital city of Budapest hosts its first-ever World Tour event. Across the Atlantic in Brazil, the mountain resort of Miguel Pereira stages an FIVB event for the second-straight season.
In addition to the three FIVB World Tour events where US$30,000 in prize money will be distributed, the European Championships will be played in Moscow where women's play starts Monday evening. The week after the continental championships, the Russian capital will host an FIVB World Tour event for men and women at the same site.
All four events this week conclude Sunday and each of the tournaments are part of the qualifying process for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour played its 36th, 37th, and 38th men’s events and 38th and 39th women’s events this past week with the double-gender, A1 Major Vienna in Austria, the double-gender Ljubljana Open in Slovenia, and the men’s-only Malbork Poland in Poland.
In Vienna, Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan won their third FIVB World Tour gold medal of 2019 and their sixth together by defeating Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado of Brazil, in the women's gold medal match.
In the men’s competition, Norway’s Anders Mol/Christian Sorum won their season leading seventh FIVB World Tour gold medal of the 2018-2019 season and 10th overall together, defeating Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho of Brazil.
Austria - Vienna, July 30-August 4, $300,000, FIVB women's event No. 413
1. Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan, Canada, $40,000
2. Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado, Brazil, $32,000
3. Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa, Brazil, $20,000
4. Talita Antunes/Taiana Lima, Brazil, $16,000
Gold - Humana-Paredes/Pavan def. Antonelli/Carolina, 21-19, 21-16 (47 minutes)
Bronze - Agatha/Duda def. Talita/Taiana, 31-29, 21-19 (60)
Teams from Brazil & Canada on the Vienna podium
Austria - Vienna, July 30-August 4, $300,000, FIVB men's event No. 445
1. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum, Norway, $32,000
2. Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho, Brazil, $32,000
3. Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek, Poland, $16,000
4. Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena United States, $16,000
Gold - Mol/Sorum def. Alison/Alvaro, 21-11, 21-17 (38)
Bronze - Bryl/Fijalek def. Dalhausser/Lucena, 21-17, 17-21, 15-11 (60)
Vienna podium with Brazilians, Norwegians and Polish players
In Malbork, the home nations’ Michal Kadziola/Marcin Ociepski each got their first FIVB World Tour gold medal by defeating Audrius Knasas/Patrikas Stankevicius of Lithuania.
Poland - Malbork, August 1-4, €5,000, FIVB men's event No. 446
1. Michal Kadziola/Marcin Ociepski, Poland, €1,000
2. Audrius Knasas/Patrikas Stankevicius, Lithuania, €700
3. Mikolaj Miszczuk/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, €500
4. Martin Chiniewicz/Michal Korycki Poland, €400
Gold - Kadziola/Ociepski def. Knasas/Stankevicius, 24-22, 21-15 (37)
Bronze - Miszczuk/Prudel def. Chiniewicz/Korycki, 23-21, 21-17 (36)
Lithuanian join Polish pair on Malbork podium
In Ljubljana, Slovenia, Ukraine’s Inna Makhno/Iryna Makhno won their country’s first women’s FIVB World Tour gold medal, defeating Victoria Kjolberg/Ane Tveit Hjortland of Norway. Two teams from the home nation battled for the men’s gold medal with Tadej Bozenk/Vid Jakopin each winning his first FIVB World Tour title by defeating compatriots Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak.
Slovenia - Ljubljana, August 1-4, €5,000, FIVB men's event No. 447
1. Tadej Bozenk/Vid Jakopin, Slovenia, €1,000
2. Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak, Slovenia, €700
3. Mees Blom/Yorick de Groot, Netherlands, €500
4. Florian Ertl/Johannes Kratz, Austria, €400
Gold - Bozenk/Jakopin def. Pokersnik/Zemljak, 16-21, 21-18, 15-11 (51)
Bronze - Blom/de Groot def. Ertl/Kratz, 21-18, 21-18 (32)
Dutch join Slovenians on Ljubljana podium
Slovenia - Ljubljana, August 1-4, €5,000, FIVB women's event No. 414
1. Inna Makhno/Iryna Makhno, Ukraine, €1,000
2. Victoria Kjolberg/Ane Tveit Hjortland, Norway, €700
3. Katja Stam/Julia Wouters, Netherlands, €400
4. Reika Murakami/Kaho Sakaguchi, Japan, €400
Gold - Makhnos def. Kjolberg/Hjortland, 14-21, 21-16, 15-13 (41)
Bronze - Stam/Wouters def. Murakami/Sakaguchi, 21-13, 21-11 (30)
Women's podium placers from Norway, the Ukraine and the Netherlands