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14/03/2016

World Tour stays in Brazil for Vitória Open

Lausanne, Switzerland, March 14, 2016 - Relishing the surroundings of the upcoming summer games while playing in Brazil for the second of three straight events, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) continues the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games through the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

Starting Monday will be the double-gender $150,000 FIVB Vitória Open on Camburi Beach. In all, counting the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Brazil will host five international beach volleyball events in 2016.

Quick links
•    Vitória Open website
•    Qualification - Men
•    Qualification - Women
•    Main draw - Men
•    Main draw - Women

Staying in Brazil with one week off after the FIVB Maceió Open prior to last week’s FIVB Rio Grand Slam, there are 57 men’s teams from 25 countries and 53 women’s teams from 27 countries in Vitória for the FIVB Vitória Open.

The double-gender $150,000 FIVB Vitória Open starts Tuesday and concludes on Sunday. The event is the fourth event of the year on the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that started with three events at the end of 2015. The FIVB Vitória Open will be played at Camburi Beach, site of numerous Brazilian domestic tour events as well as eight previous FIVB World Tour events.

VITORIA SCHEDULE
The FIVB Vitória Open is a double-gender event with 32 main draw teams per gender. It will start with a qualification tournament on Tuesday to determine the final eight spots in the 32-team main draw for each gender followed by two days of round robin pool play. The top three teams in the eight pools (24 total teams) will advance from pool play to the single-elimination knockout rounds. Pool play will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday will be the final single elimination rounds with the quarterfinals and semifinals for each gender on Saturday. The medal matches for both genders and awarding ceremonies will conclude the event on Sunday.

As needed, country quota playoff matches will be played on Monday to determine the final teams in Tuesday’s qualification tournament.

BRAZIL’S FIVB HISTORY
Overall, Brazil has hosted 73 total previous FIVB World Tour events, at least one has been held every season that the FIVB has played beach volleyball. Rio de Janeiro has hosted 25 total events, including the 2003 World Championships. Fortaleza has hosted 10 total events, followed by Brasília with eight total events, Vitória also with eight, and Salvador with seven. There have been 39 total men’s events and 34 total women’s events in Brazil. This will be the sixth men’s FIVB World Tour event in Vitória and the fourth women’s FIVB World Tour stop in Vitória.

In the medal count for events held in the South American country, Brazil is far ahead in both genders. For the men, Brazil has 66 total medals followed by the United States with 25, Switzerland 6, Germany 5, Argentina 4, Poland 3, Canada 2, Latvia 2, China 1, Cuba 1, Netherlands 2 and Norway 1.

In women’s medals for FIVB events held in Brazil, Brazil tops the chart with 58 followed again by the USA with 29, Australia 3, Germany 4, Netherlands 3, Italy 2, China 1, Japan 1, Germany 1 and Poland 1.

WELCOME TO VITORIA
Vitória is the capital of the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. It is located on a small island within a bay where a few rivers meet the sea. It was founded in 1551. The city proper (area 93km or 35.9 sq mi) has a population of nearly 350,000 while the greater metropolitan area has a population of more than 1.8 million, the 14th largest in Brazil. In 1998, the United Nations rated Vitória as the fourth best state capital in Brazil to live in, rating cities on health, education, and social improvement projects. The city is also home to the Federal University of Espirito Santo.

Vitória's economy includes port activities, active trade, industry, and also provides services to business tourism. The capital of Espírito Santo has two ports that are the most important of the country: Port of Vitória and the Port of Tubarão (Shark). These ports form the largest port complex in Brazil.

TOP SEEDS
With a field in both genders filled with Olympians, Olympic hopefuls, FIVB World Champions and the world’s best beach volleyball teams for the FIVB Vitória Open, the pre-seeded teams read like the roster for Wide World of Sports.

The top-seeded men’s teams are Brazil’s top-seeded defending FIVB World Champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Netherlands’ second-seeded Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst, USA’s third-seeded Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, Netherlands’ fourth-seeded Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, and USA’s fifth-seeded Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena.

The second five pre-seeds competing in Vitória Open are Canada’s sixth-seeded Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Germany’s seventh-seeded Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Russia’s eighth-seeded Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnikov, Spain’s ninth-seed Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera and Germany’s 10th-seeded Markus Böckermann/Lars Flüggen.

Brazil's Liliana Maestrini puts up the block against Australia's Louise Bawden at the Rio Grand Slam

For the FIVB Vitória Open, the top pre-seeded women’s teams are Brazil’s top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil’s second-seeded Juliana Felisberta/Taiana Lima, Australia’s third-seeded Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, USA’s fourth-seeded April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings and USA’s fifth-seeded Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat.

The second five pre-seeded teams competing in Vitória are Germany’s sixth-seeded Karla Borger/Britta Büthe, Poland’s seventh-seeded Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Brazil’s eighth-seeded Maria Antonelli/Liliane Maestrini, Italy’s ninth-seeded Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth and Spain’s 10th-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez.

FIVB VITORIA OPEN PURSE/POINTS
The gold medal teams at the FIVB Vitória Open Slam will split $11,000 and 500 points, the silver $8,000 and 450 points, the bronze $6,000 and 400 points and fourth place $4,500 and 450 points.

TEAM BRAZIL

Brazil's Bruno Oscar Schmidt (right) and Alison Cerutti at the Rio Grand Slam

As the host nation for the FIVB Vitória Open, Brazil has three men’s teams pre-seeded into the main draw for this event and three teams in the qualification tournament. Brazil’s men’s main draw teams are top-seeded Alison Cerutti/Oscar Bruno Schmidt, 16th-seeded Alvaro Filho/Ricardo Santos, and 24th-seeded Leonardo Gomes/Rodrigo Bernat.

Entered in the men’s qualification tournament from Brazil are Saymon Santos/Gustavo Carvalhaes, Bruno de Paula/Hevaldo Moreira and Marcio Araujo/Luciana Ferreira.

As the host nation for the FIVB Vitória Open, Brazil has four women’s teams pre-seeded into the main draw for this event and three teams in the qualification tournament. Brazil’s women’s main draw teams are top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, second-seeded Juliana Felisberta/Taiana Lima, eighth-seeded Maria Antonelli/Liliane Maestrini and 24th-seeded Rebecca Barbosa/Claudinere Sabino.

Entered in the women’s qualification tournament from Brazil are 2016 FIVB Maceió Open gold medal winners Eduarda Lisboa/Elize Maia, Josemari Alves/Vanilda Leao and Angela Lavalle/Rachel Nunes.

ON THE HORIZON
Placement points for the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continue for one more week in Brazil. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour continues the FIVB Vitória Open (March 14-20). In all, Brazil is hosting five international events in 2016. In addition to Maceió, Rio and Vitoria will be the FIVB Fortaleza Open (April 26-May 1) and the Brazil events conclude with the 2016 Rio Olympic Games (Aug. 6-18).

GROWING HISTORY
The FIVB Vitória Open in Brazil will be the 336th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 298th FIVB women’s tournament since they started competition in 1992.

FIVB 2016
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar featured a purse of US$8.8 million with a season that extended from last October to this October, competing at 23 venues in 13 countries. The schedule includes five FIVB Grand Slams, three Swatch FIVB Major Series events, 14 FIVB Opens and the special Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals at a venue to be confirmed. The showcase event will be the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil (Aug. 6-18).

The 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar started in October in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and included two more open events prior to the remainder of the schedule resuming at the FIVB Kish Island Open in Iran in February.

ROAD TO RIO
The Olympic qualification process began in 2015 with all FIVB World Tour events (except the Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine 15 spots for each gender that will take part in each 24-team field in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Copacabana Beach in Brazil in August. Counting the FIVB Vitória Open, 10 men’s and eight women’s events remain on the Olympic qualifying calendar for the FIVB World Tour.

FIVB WORLD TOUR PURSES
The five FIVB Grand Slam and three Swatch FIVB Major Series competitions in 2016, all double-gender, each have $800,000 in total purses. The total of $500,000 will be the purse for the Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final which will feature the top eight teams in each gender and two wild card teams.

The 14 FIVB Open tournaments on the 2016 calendar, 11 double-gender, and three men’s only, have $150,000 total purses for the double gender events and $75,000 for the single-gender competitions.

The gold medal teams in each gender at FIVB Grand Slam and Swatch FIVB Major Series events split $57,000, the silver $43,000, the bronze $32,000 and fourth place $24,000. The gold medal teams in each gender at FIVB Open tournaments each split $11,000, the silver $8,000, the bronze $6,000 and fourth place $4,500.

FIVB EVENT FORMAT
Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam, Swatch FIVB Major Series or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds. Country Quota playoffs returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournaments.

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