Lausanne, Switzerland, August 12, 2019 - Four weekends of international beach volleyball action on the 2018-2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar remain starting with this week’s double gender tournaments in Belgium and Russia.
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The $300,000 Moscow event starts on Wednesday with men's and women's qualifying as the World Tour returns to the Russian capital for the 12th-straight season and fourteenth time overall. Main draw play begins Thursday leading to Sunday's medal matches.
Only Gstaad (39, Switzerland), Klagenfurt (32, Austria), Rio de Janeiro (31, Brazil), Marseille (29, France), Stavanger (27, Norway) and Espinho (27, Portugal) have hosted more men's and women's tournaments than Moscow since the start of FIVB-sanctioned events in 1987. The 2019 Moscow event will be the 14th men’s and 12th women’s tournament in the Russian capital.
Knokke-Heist, a coastal municipality bordering the Netherlands and known for its beach and the Zwin Nature Park, hosts Belgium's first FIVB World Tour event since 2001. Men's and women's qualifying are Thursday with the main draw starting Friday with the medal matches Sunday.
Ostende, which is 33 km (21 miles) from Knokke-Heist, hosted Belgium’s first World Tour events with six men's (1995, 1997-2001) and a women's (1996) tournament. The 2000 Ostende stop was the final men's beach volleyball qualifying tournament for the Sydney Olympics where eventual Summer Games champions Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana of the United States earned their berth in the quadrennial.
Following the Moscow and Knokke-Heist tournaments, the remaining 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour schedule features events in Rwanda (Rubavu, August 21-24, men & women), Latvia (Jurmala, August 21-25, Jurmala, men), China (Zhongwei, August 22-25, women), Oman (Salalah, August 24-27, men), France (Montpellier, August 27-31, men) and Norway (Oslo, August 28-September 1, men).
The season’s last event will be in Italy when Rome hosts the $600,000 FIVB World Tour Finals for men and women from September 4-8 at the Foro Italico.
In action last week, the FIVB World Tour played its 39th, 40th, and 41st men’s events and 40th, 41st, and 42nd women’s event with tournaments in Liechtenstein (Vaduz), Hungary (Budapest) and Brazil (Miguel Pereira).
In Vaduz, 18-year-old Emma Piersma and 21-year-old Pleun Ypma of the Netherlands each won their first World Tour gold medals by defeating Japan’s Reika Murakami/Kaho Sakaguchi.
Austria’s 20-year-old Moritz Kindl and 24-year-old Mathias Seiser also won their first FIVB titles by defeating Anton Kislytsyn/Daniil Kuvichka of Russia.
Liechtenstein - Vaduz, August 7-11, €5,000, FIVB men's event No. 448
1. Moritz Kindl/Mathias Seiser, Austria, €1,000
2. Anton Kislytsyn/Daniil Kuvichka, Russia, €700
3. Jasper Bouter/Ruben Penninga, Netherlands, €500
4. Florian Ertl/Johannes Kratz, Austria, €400
Gold - Kindl/Seiser def. Kislytsyn/Kuvichka, 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 16-14) (47 minutes)
Bronze - Bouter/Penninga def. Ertl/Kratz, 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) (30)
Liechtenstein - Vaduz, August 7-11, €5,000, FIVB women's event No. 415
1. Emma Piersma/Pleun Ypma, Netherlands, €1,000
2. Reika Murakami/Kaho Sakaguchi, Japan, €700
3. Suzuka Hashimoto/Sayaka Mizoe, Japan, €500
4. Katja Stam/Julia Wouters, Netherlands, €400
Gold - Piersma/Ypma def. Murakami/Sakaguchi, 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) (33)
Bronze - Hashimoto/Mizoe won by forfeit over Stam/Wouters
The Vaduz women's podium
In Budapest, Samuele Cottafava and Jakob Windisch each won his first FIVB gold medals by defeating Daniel Bergerud/Lars Retterholt of Norway. A pair of 20-year-old Italians, Cottafava and Windisch had to win qualifying matches to advance to the Budapest main draw.
Japan’s Yurika Sakaguchi/Chiyo Suzuki also netted their first FIVB World Tour title together by defeating Daria Mastikova/Polina Tsyganova of Russia in the women’s finale.
Hungary - Budapest, August 8-11, €5,000, FIVB men's event No. 449
1. Samuele Cottafava/Jakob Windisch, Italy, €1,000
2. Daniel Bergerud/Lars Retterholt, Norway, €700
3. Haralds Regza/Toms Smedins, Latvia, €500
4. Masato Kurasaka/Kensuke Shoji, Japan, €400
Gold - Cottafava/Windisch def. Bergerud/Retterhol, 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-9) (46)
Bronze - Regza/Smedins def. Kurasaka/Shoji, 2-0 (21-18, 23-21) (41)
The Budapest men's and women's podium
Hungary - Budapest, August 8-11, €5,000, FIVB women's event No. 416
1. Yurika Sakaguchi/Chiyo Suzuki, Japan, €1,000
2. Daria Mastikova/Polina Tsyganova, Russia, €700
3. Raisa Schoon/Emi van Driel, Netherlands, €500
4. Francesca Kirwan/Olivia MacDonald, New Zealand, €400
Gold - Sakaguchi/Suzuki def. Mastikova/Tsyganova, 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-8) (51)
Bronze - Schoon/van Driel def. Kirwan/McDonald, 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) (32)
In Miguel Pereira all four finalist teams from both genders were from the host nation with the 19-year-old Lima twins (Rafael and Renato) capturing their first World Tour title by defeating compatriots Adrielson Dos Santos/Arthur Mariano. The Lima twins, who had to win a qualifying match to compete in the main draw, claimed the gold medal at the FIVB Under-21 World Championships in July.
In the Miguel Pereira women’s final, Andressa Cavalcanti/Diana Silva also won their first FIVB gold medals by defeating Vitoria De Souza/Vanilda Leao.
Brazil - Miguel Pereira, August 8-11, $5,000, FIVB men's event No. 450
1. Rafael Lima/Renato Lima, Brazil, $1,000
2. Adrielson Dos Santos/Arthur Mariano, Brazil, $700
3. Hevaldo Moreira/Vinicius Rezende, Brazil, $500
4. Leonardo Gomes/Joalison Laurindo, Brazil, $400
Gold - Rafael/Renato def. Adrielson/Arthur, 2-0 (21-19, 24-22) (38)
Bronze - Hevaldo/Vinicius def. Leonardo/Joalison, 2-1 (12-21, 21-15, 15-13) (49)
The men's Miguel Pereira podium
Brazil - Miguel Pereira, August 8-11, $5,000, FIVB women's event No. 417
1. Andressa Cavalcanti/Diana Silva, Brazil, $1,000
2. Vitoria De Souza/Vanilda Leao. Brazil, $700
3. Josemari Alves/Juliana Felisberta, Brazil, $500
4. Izabel Amaral/Aline Lebioda, Brazil, $400
Gold - Andressa/Diana def. Vitoria/Vanilda, 2-1 (21-14, 19-21, 15-9) (49)
Bronze - Josemari/Juliana def. Izabel/Aline, 2-1 (20-22, 21-16, 15-13) (59)
The women's Miguel Pereira podium