Lausanne, Switzerland, August 27, 2018 - The dreams of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games start this week in France as Montpellier hosts the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for the second-straight season with the 2019 event featuring both men’s and women’s competition.
To be eligible to represent a country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, all athletes must participate as an individual in a minimum of 12 events, including the FIVB Beach Volleyball Olympic Qualification Tournaments, the 2019 World Championships in Hamburg, Germany, World Tour 1-5 star events and recognized Continental Tour Finals scheduled from September 1, 2018 through June 14, 2020.
The €10,000 Montpellier Open is the second event on the 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour calendar with play starting on Tuesday with qualification followed by pool play Wednesday that leads to the weekend’s elimination matches where the men’s and women’s semifinal and medal matches will be played on Saturday.
The 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour schedule was launched last week in Hungary with teams from Slovenia and France topping the women’s and men’s podiums in Siofok. It was Hungary’s first-ever World Tour event and was part of the CEV-FIVB collaboration that started last June.
In the women’s Siofok Open competition, Slovenia’s Tjasa Jancar/Tjasa Kotnik each won her first FIVB World Tour title by defeating Sara Cavretti/Sofia Wahlen of Sweden. It was Slovenia’s first-ever women’s World Tour gold medal while Cavretti/Wahlen became the first-ever Swedish women’s or men’s team to play in a FIVB gold medal match.
The Siofok Open men's and women's podium placers.
For the men, France’s Romain Di Giantommaso/Jeremy Silvestre each captured their first FIVB World Tour gold medal by defeating Matas Navickas/Patrikas Stankevicius of Lithuania. It was France’s fourth FIVB gold medal while Navickas and Stankevicius became the first-ever Lithuanian men’s team to place on a World Tour podium.
Hungary - Siofok, August 23-26, 2018, €5,000, FIVB Women's event No. 376
1. Tjasa Jancar/Tjasa Kotnik, Slovenia, €1,000
2. Sara Cavretti/Sofia Wahlen, Sweden, €700
3. Satono Ishitsubo/Asami Shiba, Japan, €500
4. Agata Ceynowa/Martyna Kloda, Poland, €400
Gold - Jancar/Kotnik def. Cavretti/Wahlen, 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) (30 minutes)
Bronze - Ishitsubo/Shiba def. Ceynowa/Kloda, 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) (31)
Hungary - Siofok, August 23-26, 2018, €5,000, FIVB Men's event No. 410
1. Romain Di Giantommaso/Jeremy Silvestre, France, €1,000
2. Matas Navickas/Patrikas Stankevicius, Lithuania, €700
3. Robin Sowa/Eric Stadie, Germany, €500
4. Djordje Klasnic/Marko Plavsic, Serbia, €400
Gold - Di Giantommaso/Silvestre vs. Navickas/Stankevicius, 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-12) (40)
Bronze - Sowa/Stadie def. Klasnic/Plavsic, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) (34)
Following the Montpellier Open, the FIVB World Tour takes a two-week break before resuming international beach volleyball competition in China for the women’s-only Zhongwei Open from September 13-16 before finishing the month with a double-gender tournament in Qinzhou from September 30-October 4.