The Hague, The Netherlands, July 20, 2014 - Two European countries will by seeking to keep the international Beach Volleyball gold medals on the continent when Germany and Poland vie with pairs from Brazil and the United States for the men’s and women’s titles here Sunday during the final matches of the US$1-million Transavia Grand Slam presented by Bas Van de Goor Foundation.
As a “prelude” to the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships to be staged in The Netherlands, the final day of the Transavia Grand Slam at The Hague Beach Stadium center court on Scheveningen beach will feature a women’s gold match at 1 p.m. and the men’s title confrontation at 3:45 p.m. where the final two teams in each gender will be vying for the $70,000 first-place prizes.
In addition to the championship matches, Sunday’s schedule will also award bronze medals where a team from Brazil is guaranteed a men’s bronze while the South American country will have a women’s pair playing a Czech Republic tandem for third-place spot on the podium. In addition to medals, the Transavia Grand Slam runner-up pairs will be presented with $52,000 checks while third-place tandems receive $40,000 and the fourth-place finishers net $30,000.
Following the women’s third-place match where sixth-seeded Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta of Brazil challenge third-seeded Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic, eighth-seeded Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler seek their second-straight FIVB World Tour gold medal when the Germans face 11th-seeded Fernanda Alves/Taiana Lima of Brazil for the top spot on the Transavia Grand Slam podium.
The women’s gold medal match will be the first meeting between the German and Brazilian pairs since Fernanda and Lima are playing in only their second FIVB event together compared to Holtwick and Semmler’s 84th world tour stop. Antonelli and Juliana will be playing the Czech Republic pair for the third-time this season with Kolocova and Slukova winning both affairs in medal matches in Berlin (gold) and last week in Gstaad (bronze).
Once the women’s matches are completed and The Hague Beach Stadium net is raised, the All-Brazilian men’s third-place meeting will be played as eighth-seeded Emanuel Rego/Pedro Salgado confront compatriots and third-seeded Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt. It is the second-time this season the two teams have met with Alison and Bruno winning the first in Berlin Grand Slam third-place game.
With sixth-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel will seeking Poland’s first-ever FIVB World Tour gold medal since the start of the international circuit in 1987, topo-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal will be bidding to win three-straight tournament titles this season after winning the last two events in Norway and Switzerland. The Americans also enter the match with 20-straight victories.
The last men’s team to win three-straight events on the FIVB World Tour was Alison and Emanuel when the Brazilians captured consecutive gold medals at 2011 stops in the Czech Republic, China and Italy. The third event in the string was the FIVB World Championships in Rome.
Following this week’s event, the FIVB World Tour returns to the United States for the second-straight year as Long Beach in southern California hosts another $1-million event. The international circuit returns to Europe in August for stops in Austria (Klagenfurt, July 29-August 3) and Poland (Stare Jablonki, August 19-24).