2015-09-01 10:49:00 CET
The Field for the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Fort Lauderdale is nearly set, but which teams will receive the much desired Wild Cards?
With one event left in the "fight for the fort" for the inaugural Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals to be played in four weeks in Fort Lauderdale, the top eight men's teams have been determined for the US$500,000 international Beach Volleyball event along with the first seven women's entries.
Featuring "elite" 10-team fields for both the men's and women's competition with a maximum of two teams per country per gender, the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals competition starts with pool play September 29 in the south Florida port city leading to the elimination rounds where the winnings teams on October 4 will share the $100,000 first-place prize for a record international gold medal award.
The top eight teams on both the men's and women's FIVB World Tour ranking list will qualify for the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals along with two "wild card" berths pairs per gender. The fourth and final event on the 2015 Swatch Major Series calendar, the field for the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals will feature teams from eight countries, including four from Beach Volleyball power Brazil led by reigning world champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas.
With the "wild cards" to be named in the near future, the eighth spot from the FIVB World Tour ranking list in the women's field will be determined at this week's Rio Open where Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez hold the advantage over Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany and Fan Wang/Yuan Yue of China. With the Rio Open being played on Copacabana beach as a test event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Baquerizo and Liliana hold a 190-point lead over the Germans and a 310-point edge over Wang and Yue.
Here are the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals rankings with a maximum of two teams per country:
Men's rank, Team, Country, Points
1, Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 5,720
2, Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil, 4,720
3, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands, 4,540
4, Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 4,220
5, Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States, 4,080
6, Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 4,060
7, Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, 3,920
8, Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada, 3,840
NOTE - The men's ranking is based on 12 events, including the FIVB "senior" World Championships, five Grand Slams (Russia, United States, Japan, United States and Poland), three Swatch Major Series tournaments (Croatia, Norway, Switzerland), and two Opens (China, Switzerland and Brazil). CQ = exceed country's quota with a maximum of two teams per FIVB federation.
Women's rank, Team, Country, Points
1, Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, Brazil, 5,900
2, Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 5,340
3, Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada, 5,070
CQ, Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta, Brazil, 4,360
4, Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany, 4,200
5, Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 4,190
6, Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, 4,180
7, Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas, Canada, 4,120
8, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez, Spain, 3,660
NOTE - The women's ranking is based on 13 events, including the FIVB "senior" World Championships, five Grand Slams (Russia, United States, Japan, United States, Poland and Brazil), three Swatch Major Series tournaments (Croatia, Norway, Switzerland), and three Opens (China, Switzerland and Czech Republic). CQ = exceed country's quota with a maximum of two teams per FIVB federation.