Yokohama, Japan, July 21, 2015 - With Fernanda Alves and Taiana Lima winning a qualifying match Tuesday to advance to the Main Draw for this week’s US$800,000 Yokohama Grand Slam, Brazil will now have the top four seeded teams in the “money” rounds of an international women’s event for the eighth time.
With the Yokohama Grand Slam being the 287th event since the start of women’s FIVB World Tour competition in 1992, the Brazilians will be seeking their 145th gold medal on the international circuit as the South Americans have dominated play with seven-straight podium-topping performances this season.
The Yokohama Grand Slam also marks the 15th FIVB World Tour event in Japan for women. With the previous 14 events being staged in Osaka, Brazilian women have won the last 11 events in the country with the 2005 event featuring a podium sweep by the South Americans that also had the top four-seeded teams in the competition.
A Yokohama gold medal finish by one of the five Brazilian women’s teams in the competition would tie the record for most consecutive podium-topping finishes by a country on the FIVB World Tour. The United States established the record in 1995 with sixth-straight gold medal performances by Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno with the next two titles being earned by the pairs of Karolyn Kirby/Reno and Barbra Fontana/Linda Hanley.
So far this season on the FIVB World Tour, seven Brazilian women’s teams have combined to win 174 of 230 matches with an impressive 79.8 winning percentage against international teams (158-40). Sixteen times two Brazilians teams have met head-to-head this season, including confrontations in the last four gold medal matches in Norway, the United States, The Netherlands (world championships) and Switzerland.
No other country has ever had the top four-seeded teams in a FIVB World Tour tournament. The Brazilian men accomplished the feat four times (1997, 2005 and 2006). With the Brazilian women having the top four-seeded teams this week, it marks the second time this season as the South American women headlined the last FIVB World Tour event in Gstaad for the SWATCH Major Series competition in the Swiss Alps.
The Brazilian pairs of Agatha Bednarczuk Barbara Seixas and Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca have paced the Brazilian women this season as each team has won three gold medals in 2015. Talita and Larissa will be seeded first this week followed by Agatha/Barbara, Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta and Fernanda Alves/Taiana Lima.
The Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara) also qualified Tuesday for the Yokohama Main Draw as the fifth Brazilian team in the women’s competition and are seeded 14th. The Salgados will meet Antonelli and Juliana in pool play match Wednesday as the two teams will be facing each other for the fourth-time on the FIVB World Tour with the sisters losing all three matches to their Brazilian rivals last season. Antonelli and Juliana are the reigning FIVB World Tour champions with Agatha and Barbara finishing second on the 2014 international points list.
The reigning world champions by winning the trophy last month in The Hague by defeating Fernanda and Taiana in the finals, Agatha and Barbara have also topped the podium this season in the Czech Republic (Prague) and the United States (St. Petersburg).
The No. 1-ranked women’s team on the FIVB World Tour with 4,340 points entering this week’s Yokohama Grand Slam, Agatha and Barbara have a 750-point lead over Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan of Canada for the top spot. The tandems of Antonelli/Juliana (3,400 points) and Talita/Larissa (3,260) rank third and fourth, respectively with the Fernanda/Lima partnership No. 13 (2,500). The Salgados are ranked 29th internationally.
Prior to the Yokohama Grand Slam, Agatha and Barbara had competed in seven FIVB World Tour events as compared to Antonelli/Juliana’s six and Talita/Larissa’s five. Winners of seven FIVB World Tour gold medals since August 2014 with podium-topping finishes this season in Russia (Moscow), Croatia (Porec) and Switzerland (Gstaad), Talita and Larissa missed the Norwegian Major where Antonelli and Juliana defeated Agatha and Barbara in the Stavanger finale.
Women
8 times, including Yokohama 2015
17 "final four" finishes (excluding Yokohoma 2015)
15 podium placements (excluding Yokohoma 2015)
6 gold medals (excluding Yokohoma 2015)
5 silver medals (excluding Yokohoma 2015)
4 bronze medals (excluding Yokohoma 2015)
2 fourth-places (excluding Yokohoma 2015)
5 qualifying teams (including Yokohoma 2015)
Final Placement, Team, Seed
Rio 2004 (Brazil captured the top six places in the event)
1, Ana Paula Henkel/Sandra Pires, 3
2, Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, 1
3, Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, 2
5, Shaylyn Bede/Renata Ribeiro, 4
Osaka 2005
1, Shaylyn Bede/Ana Paula Henkel, 3
2, Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, 2
3, Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, 1
9, Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro, 4, Q1
Gstaad 2005
1, Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, 1
3, Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, 2
4, Leila Barros/Ana Paula Henkel, 4
17, Agatha Bednarczuk/Sandra Pires, 3
Montréal 2005
1, Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, 1
2, Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro, 3, Q1
3, Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, 2
13, Leila Barros/Ana Paula Henkel, 4
Klagenfurt 2008
1, Shelda Bede/Ana Paula Henkel, 2
5, Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, 1
9, Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro, 4
17, Maria Antonelli/Vanilda Leao, 3, Q1
Guarujá 2008
3, Shelda Bede/Ana Paula Henkel, 1
4, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, 2
5, Maria Antonelli/Vanilda Leao, 3
7, Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro, 4
Gstaad 2015
1, Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca. 1
2, Fernanda Alves/Taiana Limam 4, Q1
5, Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, 2
5, Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta, 3
Yokohama 2015
TBD, Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, 1
TBD, Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, 2
TBD, Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta, 3
TBD, Fernanda Alves/Taiana Lima, 4, Q1
Men
4 times
9 "final four" finishes
8 podium placements
4 gold medals
2 silver medals
2 bronze medals
1 fourth-place
5 qualifying teams
Final Placement, Team, Seed
Rio 1997
1, Ze Marco de Melo/Emanuel Rego, 1
9, Roberto Lopes/Franco Neto, 3
9, Paulao Moreira/Paulo Emilio Silva, 4
17, Rogerio 'Para' Ferreira/Guilherme Marques, 2
Berlin 2005 World Championships
1, Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes, 2
9, Benjamin Insfran/Harley Marques, 4
13, Franco Neto/Tande Ramos, 3
17, Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, 1
Montréal 2005
1, Benjamin Insfran/Harley Marques, 3
2, Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes, 2
3, Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, 1
4, Pedro Cunha/Franco Neto, 4, Q1
Montréal 2006
1, Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes, 2
2, Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, 1
3, Pedro Cunha/Franco Neto, 3
5, Benjamin Insfran/Harley Marques, 4, Q1