Berlin podium finishers, from left, China's Chen Xue, Xi Zhang (silver), Brazil's Larissa Franca, Juliana Felisberta de Silva, Italy's Marta Menegatti, Greta Cicolari (bronze) also lead the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour.

Lausanne, Switzerland, July 15, 2012— The sixth of eight Grand Slams and the seventh of nine double-gender events of the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour were held this past week with US $600,000 smart Grand Slam Berlin 2012.  On the men’s side, Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil avenged gold medal losses in Rome and Gstaad by defeating Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal of the United States 21-17, 15-21, and 15-11 for their second gold medal in 2012 and seventh together overall.  On the women’s side Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca made it a Brazilian gold medal sweep with their second win of the 2012 season and 44th together overall, defeating the Chinese duo of Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 21-16 and 21-18.  The tour continues with one more double gender Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria from July 16-22 before the Olympic Games in London, Great Britain from July 28-August 9.

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 17 sites in 14 countries over a seventh-month period.
• With the 2012 world tour calendar featuring 13 women’s and 12 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) and Czech Republic (Prague).
• 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 will be a double gender event in Brasília April 15-22 as the Brazilian capital will be celebrating its 52nd anniversary on the seventh day of competition.  During the April 21 Brasília celebration, crowds of more than 1-million will be attending 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/2012/OlympicRanking_M.asp and for women’s visit http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2012/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 August in Poland (Stare Jablonki) 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 July 15)
Men (Team Rank, points)
1, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 5,000
2, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 4,920
3, Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 3,760
4, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 3,380
5, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 3,280
6, Marcio Araujo/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 3,280
7, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 3,000
8, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 2,920
9, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 2,880
10, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, 2,460
11, Emiel Boersma/Daan Spijkers, Netherlands, 2,240
12, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 2,160
13, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 2,070
14, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 1,980
15, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 1,724
16, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 1,700
17, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 1,580
18, Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 1,540
19, Jon Stiekema/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 1,360
20, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Patrick Heuscher, Switzerland, 1,340
20, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 1,340
20, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 1,340
23, Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz, Poland, 1,324
24, Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko, Russia, 1,300

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 12 men’s and 13 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, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 8, 2, $210,800
2, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 9, 2, $198,700
3, Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 8, 2, $135,200
4, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 8, 1, $124,900
5, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 6, 2, $120,000
6, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 9, 0, $101,700
7, Marcio Araujo/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 9, 0, $98,400
8, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, 7, 0, $83,100
9, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 9, 0, $80,200
10, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 8, 0, $77,800
11, Emiel Boersma/Daan Spijkers, Netherlands, 8, 0, $61,400
12, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 7, 0, $60,800
13, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 7, 0, $57,500
14, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 9, 0, $52,000
15, Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 7, 0, $49,500
16, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 7, 0, $46,000
17, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 8, 0, $45,500
18, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 7, 0, $44,450
19, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 4, 0, $41,200
20, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Patrick Heuscher, Switzerland, 7, 0, $40,400
21, Jon Stiekema/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 8, 0, $37,700
21, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 7, 0, $37,700
23, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 7, 0, $36,750
24, Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko, Russia, 6, 0, $34,850
 

2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Women’s Leaders (through July 15)
Women (Team Rank, points)
1, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 4,680
2, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 4,480
3, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 3,380
4, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 3,280
5, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 3,200
6, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 3,000
7, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 2,860
8, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 2,840
9, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 2,720
10, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 2,520
11, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 2,440
12, Katrien Gielen/Liesbeth Mouha, Belgium, 2,160
13, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 1,880
14, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 1,760
15, Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley, Australia, 1,700
15, Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands, 1,700
17, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 1,580
18, Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 1,380
19, Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 1,360
19, Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany, 1,360
21, Anastasia Vasina/Anna Vozakova, Russia, 1,280
22, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 1,200
23, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 1,180
24, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner, Spain, 1,160

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 12 men’s and 13 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, 8, 3, $195,900
2, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 8, 2, $174,200
3, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 7, 1, $122,900
4, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 6, 1, $111,300
5, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 7, 0, $107,000
6, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 7, 1, $99,600
7, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 6, 0, $96,800
8, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 7, 0, $95,000
9, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 7, 0, $83,800
10, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 7, 0, $71,600
11, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 6, 0, $64,700
12, Katrien Gielen/Liesbeth Mouha, Belgium, 8, 0, $63,550
13, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 7, 0, $51,200
14, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 6, 0, $49,400
15, Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley, Australia, 7, 0, $45,500
16, Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands, 6, 0, $44,700
17, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 7, 0, $41,250
18, Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 8, 0, $40,650
19, Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 7, 0, $39,500
20, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 8, 0, $39,000
21, Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany, 8, 0, $38,900
22, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 8, 0, $36,700
23, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner, Spain, 6, 0, $34,800
24, Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, Czech Republic, 6, 0, $30,300

Germany – Berlin, July 10-14, $US$300,000
1. Juliana/Larissa, Brazil, $43,500
2. Xue/Zhang, China, $30,000
3. Cicolari/Menegatti, Italy, $23,000
4. Holtwick/ Semmler, Germany, $18,400
Gold – Juliana/Larissa def. Xue/Zhang, 21-16, 21-18 (39)
Bronze – Cicolari/Menegatti def. Holtwick/ Semmler, 21-13, 21-19 (35)
MOP – Xue
SWATCH Serve – Walkenhorst, Germany, 80.4 km/h

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