After earning a bronze medal at the Moscow Grand Slam, Brazil's Pedro Cunha, left, and Ricardo Santos head to the smart Grand Slam Rome this week as the point leaders of the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour.

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 12, 2012— The third of eight Grand Slams and the fourth of nine double-gender events of the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour were held this past week with US $600,000 Moscow Grand Slam in Russia. 

On the women’s side, Chen Xue and Xi Zhang of China won their third event of the 2012 season and 12th together overall defeating Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh 21-14 and 21-14. 

For the men, Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil claimed their first gold medal of 2012 and sixth overall together by defeating Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands, 21-16 and 29-27.  It was Emanuel’s all-time best 76th career win. Both genders travel to Rome from June 12-17 for the fourth Grand Slam and the final event in the 2012 Olympic qualifying period.

2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Highlights
The 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour calendar is highlighted by an FIVB-record eight Grand Slam events along with the 2012 London Olympics as the international Beach Volleyball schedule starts in April and concludes in October. 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the first FIVB Beach Volleyball event held February 17-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The gold medal was won by USA’s Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos. The men’s world tour began in 1989, the women’s in 1992. Smith/Stoklos were the champions of the inaugural season in 1989-90.
• In 2012, international beach volleyball events will visit 18 sites in 15 countries over a seventh-month period.
• With the 2012 world tour calendar featuring 13 women’s and 13 men’s events within the African, Asian, European and South American confederations, the FIVB SWATCH World Tour will offer US$6.32 million in prize money.
• Nine of the tournaments will be combined men’s and women’s events, including all eight Grand Slam stops.
• Women’s-only stops will be in China (Sanya), Finland (Aland) and Thailand (Bang Saen).
• Men’s only stops will be in Poland (Myslowice), Czech Republic (Prague) and Morocco (Agadir).
• The new Grand Slam event this year will be in China (Shanghai).
• The $4.8 million FIVB SWATCH World Tour Grand Slam series will also return to 2011 venues in China (Beijing), Russia (Moscow), Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Gstaad), Austria (Klagenfurt) and Poland (Stare Jablonki). The tour will also return for the first time since 2008 to Germany (Berlin).
• Klagenfurt and Gstaad have each staged 10 or more FIVB-sanctioned Beach Volleyball events.  Both sites have hosted the FIVB SWATCH World Championships with Klagenfurt in 2001 and Gstaad in 2007.
• The opening event on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour calendar was a double gender event in Brasília April 15-22 as the Brazilian capital celebrated its 52nd anniversary on the seventh day of competition.  During the April 21 Brasília celebration, crowds of more than 1-million attended various holiday activities around the SWATCH event. 
• The iconic Horse Guards Parade in central London will be the site of the London 2012 Olympic Games which will run from July 28 through August 9. A special Olympic test event for 24 women’s teams was held on the site last August with Brazil’s Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira defeating USA’s Jennifer Kessy/April Ross in the gold medal match.
• A total of 16 teams from each gender out of the 24 teams participating in the 2012 London Olympics, will qualifying through qualification rankings from the FIVB SWATCH World Tour. For the latest rankings, for men’s visit… http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2011/OlympicRanking_M.asp and for women’s visit http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2011/OlympicRanking_W.asp
• China will again stage three and Poland will once again present two FIVB SWATCH World Tour stops in 2012.
• The men’s international schedule will conclude in early October in Morocco (Agadir) while the women’s competition will end in late October in Thailand (Bang Saen).
• The international beach volleyball calendar will also feature world championships for players under the age of 21 and under the age of 19.  Larnaca, Cyprus will host the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Youth World Championships July 11-14 for players under the age of 19. For the second consecutive year, Canada will host in Halifax, Nova Scotia Aug. 29-Sept. 2 the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Junior World Championships for players under the age of 21. This will be the first time for Cyprus to host one of these age group FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Championships. The U-19 world championships in 2011 were held in Umag, Croatia before Canada hosted the U-21s in Halifax.
• IMG Sports Media will continue to have the exclusive distribution media rights for the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour. For the third straight year, the tour will exclusively use the Mikasa VLS 300 ball. It was introduced in 2009 in October and November at events in Sanya and Phuket.
 

2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Men’s Leaders (through June 12)
Men (Team Rank, points)
1, Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 2,960
2, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 2,760
3, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 2,600
4, Marcio Araujo/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 2,480
5, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 2,400
6, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 2,180
7, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 2,040
8, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 1,880
9, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 1,820
10, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 1,760
11, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, 1,740
12, Emiel Boersma/Daan Spijkers, Netherlands, 1,600
13, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 1,360
14, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 1,350
15, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 1,220
16, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 1,100
17, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 900
18, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 860
18, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 860
20, Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 740
21, Jason Lochhead/Kirk Pitman, New Zealand, 720
22, Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko, Kazakhstan, 660
23, Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz, Poland, 644
24, Jon Stiekema/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 640

NOTE - The 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour champions will be determined by calculating the points for a team’s best 9 men’s and women’s finishes based on 75 percent of the 13 men’s and women’s events (Open, World Championship and Grand Slam events only) staged during season and rounded down.

Men (Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings)
1, Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 6, 2, $114,000
2, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 5, 1, $108,300
3, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 5, 1, $96,300
4, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 4, 2, $93,600
5, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 6, 0, $82,200
6, Marcio Araujo/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 6, 0, $77,200
7, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 6, 0, $65,000
8, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, 5, 0, $56,600
9, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 6, 0, $52,400
10, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 6, 0, $51,000
11, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 5, 0, $46,300
12, Emiel Boersma/Daan Spijkers, Netherlands, 6, 0, $43,100
13, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 4, 0, $39,600
14, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 6, 0, $32,500
15, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 5, 0, $31,350
16, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 5, 0, $29,100
17, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 5, 0, $24,300
18, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 4, 0, $24,200
19, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 5, 0, $23,650
20, Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 5, 0, $21,400
21, Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko, Kazakhstan, 4, 0, $18,850
22, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 1, 0, $18,400
23, Jon Stiekema/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 5, 0, $18,200
24, Jason Lochhead/Kirk Pitman, New Zealand, 4, 0, $16,800

2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Women’s Leaders (through June 12)
Women (Team Rank, points)
1, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 3,040
2, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 3,000
3, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 2,740
4, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 1,980
5, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 1,720
6, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 1,680
6, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 1,680
8, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 1,640
9, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 1,560
10, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 1,480
11, Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands, 1,380
12, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 1,320
13, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 1,280
14, Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley, Australia, 1,140
15, Katrien Gielen/Liesbeth Mouha, Belgium, 1,120
16, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 1,100
17, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 960
18, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner, Spain, 920
19, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 880
19, Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 880
21, Heather Bansley/Elizabeth Maloney, Canada, 844
22, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 770
23, Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 740
24, Anastasia Vasina/Anna Vozakova, Russia, 640

NOTE - The 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour champions will be determined by calculating the points for a team’s best 9 men’s and women’s finishes based on 75 percent of the 13 men’s and women’s events (Open, World Championship and Grand Slam events only) staged during season and rounded down.

Women (Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings)
1, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 5, 3, $140,000
2, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 5, 1, $121,700
3, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 5, 1, $106,900
4, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 4, 0, $62,200
5, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 4, 0, $57,600
6, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 4, 0, $54,600
7, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 4, 0, $45,600
8, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 4, 0, $43,500
9, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 5, 0, $41,400
10, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 4, 0, $38,300
11, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 4, 0, $37,200
12, Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands, 5, 0, $36,700
13, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 5, 0, $33,100
14, Katrien Gielen/Liesbeth Mouha, Belgium, 5, 0, $32,050
15, Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley, Australia, 5, 0, $28,800
16, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 5, 0, $28,150
17, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 4, 0, $27,800
18, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 5, 0, $26,900
19, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner, Spain, 4, 0, $26,200
20, Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 4, 0, $24,200
21, Heather Bansley/Elizabeth Maloney, Canada, 5, 0, $21,900
22, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 5, 0, $20,850
23, Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 5, 0, $20,450
24, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 5, 0, $20,100

2012 Men FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Schedule/Results (as of June 12, 2012)
Dates Site Open/GS/OG Gold Medal Team or Purse
April 17-22  Brasília, Brazil  Open   Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States
April 24-29 Myslowice, Poland Open   Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil
May 1-6         Shanghai, China         Grand Slam Dalhausser/Rogers, United States
May 8-13 Beijing, China  Grand Slam Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands
May 22-27 Prague, Czech Republic Open   Cunha/Ricardo, Brazil
June 7-12 Moscow, Russia  Grand Slam Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil
June 13-17 Rome, Italy  Grand Slam $300,000
July 3-8 Gstaad, Switzerland Grand Slam $300,000
July 10-14 Berlin, Germany  Grand Slam $300,000
July 17-22 Klagenfurt, Austria Grand Slam $300,000
July 28-Aug 9 London, Great Britain Olympic Games  
August 14-19 Stare Jablonki, Poland Grand Slam $300,000
October 2-7 Agadir, Morocco  Open  $190,000

2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour – Men’s Final Four results
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Brazil – Brasília, April 17-22, $US$190,000
1. Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, $30,000
2. Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, $21,000
3. Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, $15,000
4. Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, $11,200
Gold – Dalhausser/Rogers def. Fuerbringer/Lucena, 21-17, 21-18 (44 minutes)
Bronze – Cunha/Ricardo def. Gavira Collado/Herrera, 21-18, 21-14 (39)
MOP – Rogers
SWATCH Serve – Evandro Goncalves, Brazil 95.3

Poland – Myslowice, April 24-29, $US$190,000
1. Cunha/Ricardo, Brazil, $30,000
2. Marcio Araujo/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, $21,000
3. Gavira Collado/Herrera, Spain, $15,000
4. Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy $11,200
Gold – Cunha/Ricardo def. Araujo/Salgado, 21-8, 19-21, 15-13 (53)
Bronze – Gavira Collado/Herrera def. Lupo/Nicolai, 21-16, 21-11 (34)
MOP – Ricardo
SWATCH Serve – Eric Koreng, Germany 101.2

China – Shanghai, May 1-6, $US$300,000
1. Dalhausser/Rogers, United States, $43,500
2. Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, $30,000
3. Marcio/Salgado, Brazil, $23,000
4. Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, $18,400
Gold – Dalhausser/Rogers def. Gibb/Rosenthal 21-19, 22-24, 15-11 (67)
Bronze – Marcio/Salgado def. Benjamin/Bruno 16-21, 21-15, 15-13 (57)
MOP – Benjamin
SWATCH Serve – Dalhausser, 89.1 km/h

China – Beijing, May 8-13, $US$300,000
1. Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, $43,500
2. Lupo/ Nicolai, Italy, $30,000
3. Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, $23,000
4. Gibb/Rosenthal, United States, $18,400
Gold –Nummerdor/Schuil def. Lupo/ Nicolai, 21-11, 21-16 (31)
Bronze –  Alison/Emanuel def. Gibb/Rosenthal, 21-13, 21-16 (32)
MOP – Schuil
SWATCH Serve – Alison, 88.9 km/h
 
Czech Republic – Prague, May 22-27, $US$190,000
1. Cunha/Ricardo, Brazil, $30,000
2. Alison/Emanuel, Brazil, $21,000
3. Dalhausser/Rogers, United States, $15,000
4. Marcio/Salgado, Brazil, $11,200
Gold – Cunha/Ricardo def. Alison/Emanuel 21-15, 19-21, 15-10 (55)
Bronze –  Dalhausser/Rogers def. Marcio/Salgado 21-13, 21-19 (40)
MOP – Cunha
SWATCH Serve – Stefan Windscheif, Germany 98.9 km/h

Russia – Moscow, June 7-12, $US$300,000
1. Alison/Emanuel, Brazil, $43,500
2. Nummerdor/Schuil, Netherlands, $30,000
3. Cunha/Ricardo, Brazil, $23,000
4. Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, $18,400
Gold – Alison/Emanuel def. Nummerdor/Schuil, 21-16, 29-27 (47)
Bronze –  Cunha/Ricardo def. Brink/Reckermann 21-19, 21-14 (41)
MOP – Emanuel
SWATCH Serve – Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 96.9 km/h

2012 Women FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Schedule/Results (as of June 12, 2012)
Dates Site Open/GS/OG Gold Medal Team or Purse
April 15-20  Brasília, Brazil  Open   Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China
April 24-29 Sanya, China  Open   Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil
Apr 30-May 5 Shanghai, China  Grand Slam Xue/Zhang, China
May 7-12 Beijing, China  Grand Slam Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil
June 6-11 Moscow, Russia  Grand Slam Xue/Zhang, China
June 12-17 Rome, Italy  Grand Slam $300,000
July 2-7 Gstaad, Switzerland Grand Slam $300,000
July 11-15 Berlin, Germany  Grand Slam $300,000
July 16-21 Klagenfurt, Austria Grand Slam $300,000
July 28-Aug 9 London, Great Britain Olympic Games  
August 13-18 Stare Jablonki, Poland Grand Slam $300,000
Aug 28-Sept 2 Aland, Finland  Open   $190,000
Oct. 23-28 Bang Saen, Thailand Open  $190,000

Russia – Beijing, May 7-12, $US$300,000
1. Xue/Zhang, China, $43,500
2. Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, $30,000
3. Juliana/Larissa, Brazil, $23,000
4. Maria/Talita, Brazil, $18,400
Gold – Xue/Zhang def. May-Treanor/Walsh, 21-14, 21-14 (34)
Bronze Juliana/Larissa def. Maria/Talita, 19-21, 21-18, 15-8 (52)
MOP – Xue
SWATCH Serve – Svetlana Popova, Russia, 80.9 km/h