Hagatna, Guam, March 1, 2020 - After taking a week off, the FIVB World Tour resumes play with an event in Guam in the Western Pacific from March 5 to 8.
The first stop in March is an inaugural single-gender women's competition. Other stops scheduled in March include events in Doha (Qatar), Langkawi (Malaysia), Coolangatta, Gold Coast (Australia) and Cancun (Mexico).
In FIVB action two weeks ago in Cambodia, newly-crowned Asian champions Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann of Australia claimed their second World Tour gold medal by winning the Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival in Cambodia.
Cambodia, Phnom Penh, February 20-23, 2020, US$25,000, FIVB men's event No. 466
1, Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann, Australia, $4,000
2, Christoph Dressler/Alexander Huber, Austria, $3,000
3, Lukas Pfretzschner/Robin Sowa, Germany, $2,000
4, Laurenz Leitner/Florian Schnetzer, Austria, $1,400
Gold - McHugh/Schumann def. Dressler/Huber, 21-16, 30-28 (48 minutes)
Bronze - Pfretzschner/Sowa def. Leitner/Schnetzer, 21-18, 17-21, 24-22 (62)
The Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival podium in Phnom Penh
With McHugh and Schumann's win in the Cambodian capital, Australia captured both men's and women's FIVB World Tour gold medals in the same season for only the second time. In mid-November in Mexico, Australians Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy topped the women's Chetumal podium.
The last time Australia had men's and women's gold medal winners in the same season was in 2001 when Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst captured a women's title in April at Macau followed by a men's crown in July at Berlin by Julien Prosser and Lee Zahner.
Led by Brazil (26 times) and the United States (23, including 2019-2020), a total of 16 countries have claimed men's and women's gold medals in the same season. Other nations with double gender titles in the same season are Germany (8), the Netherlands (4), Russia (3), Austria (2), Italy (2), Japan (2), Canada (1), China (1), Czech Republic (1), France (1), Slovenia (1), Switzerland (1), and the Ukraine (1).