Lausanne, Switzerland, May 5, 2019 - A women's only event in Vietnam and the announcement of entries for next month's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Germany highlight this week's news.
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With the FIVB World Championships 53 days away starting June 28 in Hamburg, Germany, the announcement of the entries filling the 23 men's and 23 women's berth from the World Tour will be on Tuesday.
A total of 48 teams per gender will compete in the 12th edition of the FIVB World Championships where the winning pairs on July 6 for women and July 7 for men will secure a spot for their country in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The second annual FIVB World Tour stop on Tuan Chau Island in Vietnam will be played from Thursday through Sunday as 2020 Olympic hosts Japan will be looking for a second podium sweep after capturing all three medals at the 2018 event held during the second full week of May.
Two of the Japanese medal winners in 2018 on Tuan Chau Island are entered together for this year's US$10,000 event where qualifying will be played on Thursday followed by pool play on Friday, elimination rounds on Saturday and the medal matches on Sunday where the winning team will share the $2,000 first-place prize.
Yui Nagata and Yukako Suzuki will be playing together on Tuan Chau Island this week after placing second and third, respectively, on the podium at the inaugural Vietnam FIVB World Tour event in 2018 where Japan's Suzuka Hashimoto and Mizoe captured the gold medal.
2018 Tuan Chau Island podium with presenters
In FIVB World Tour action this past weekend in Malaysia, teams from the Czech Republic and Brazil prevented an American sweep of the gold medals at the 18th women's and 20th men's event on the 2018-2019 international beach volleyball calendar.
After placing second two weeks ago in Xiamen, China, Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic captured the top spot on the Port Dickson Beach Open women’s podium on Sunday with a three-set gold medal win over Brooke Sweat/Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States in a meeting of Rio 2016 Olympians.
World Tour veterans Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho teamed for only their second FIVB event together as the Brazilians won the South American country's first gold medal this season by defeating Theo Brunner/Reid Priddy of the United States in two sets.
Priddy's podium placement marked his first international beach volleyball medal after playing three decades on the USA national indoor team where he competed in four Olympics and was part of the American gold medal team in Beijing in 2008 and the bronze medal winners at the Rio 2016 Summer Games.
Malaysia - Port Dickson, April 30-May 4, $75,000, FIVB women's event No. 393
1. Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, $10,000
2. Brooke Sweat/Kerri Walsh Jennings, United States, $8,000
3. Karla Borger/Julia Sude, Germany, $5,000
4. Maria Carro Paula Soria, Spain, $4,000
Gold - Hermannova/Slukova def. Sweat/Walsh Jennings, 2-1 (24-26, 22-20, 15-12) (56 minutes)
Bronze - Borger/Sude def. Carro/Soria, 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) (42)
Port Dickson women's podium with Americans, Czech Republic and German players
Malaysia - Port Dickson, April 30-May 4, $75,000, FIVB men's event No. 429
1. Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho, Brazil, $10,000
2. Theo Brunner/Reid Priddy, United States, $8,000
3. Ryan Doherty/John Hyden, United States, $5,000
4. Alexander Walkenhorst/Sven Winter, Germany, $4,000
Gold - Alison/Alvaro def. Brunner/Priddy 2-0 (24-22, 21-18) (45)
Bronze - Doherty/Hyden def. Walkenhorst/Winter, 2-0 (21-17, 21-7) (29)
Port Dickson men's podium with Americans (left and right) and Brazilian gold medal winners
After the World Tour completes its three-week stay in Asia on Tuan Chu Island, the FIVB stages double gender events the following week in Brazil (Itapema, May 15-19) and Turkey (Aydin, May 16-19).
May wraps up back in Asia with double-gender events in China (Jinjiang, May 22-26) and the Philippines (Boracay, May 23-26) before returning to Europe for the Ostrava Open in the Czech Republic starting May 20 and concluding on June 2.