Preview SWATCH FIVB Paf Open 2010 Norway
After a record-breaking week in Kristiansand, Norway, the SWATCH FIVB World Tour has moved to its next stop in Finnish Island, Aland for the US$380,000 Paf Open. It is the second last double-gender tournament on the FIVB Calendar.
The last event in Norway brought amazing results in both women and men’s categories. The Brazilian top-guns Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca made their mark and won another gold medal. On the other side, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of USA rocked the men’s competitions and scored their 8th gold medal in this season.
The lovely capital of Aland, Mariehamn is the host to the fabulous beach volleyball event. The Finnish and Swedish Volleyball Associations jointly organise this activity for Women and Men in the city of Mariehamn annually. The women’s tournament started off on Monday, 16th August 2010 with the Country Quota playoffs.
The successful teams were shifted from CQ stage to the Qualification Tournament on Tuesday. Afterwards, the game is scheduled to enter the Main Draw matches on Wednesday. The first Main Draw phase will feature 32 matches with double elimination bracket. The “money” rounds will be played on Thursday and elimination bracket will move from 32 matches to 16-match Main Draw competitions. The qualifiers will enter the quarter-finals of the SWATCH FIVB Paf Open on Friday. The quarter-final will promote the final four pairs in the semi-finals and medals matches on Saturday.
The Men’s event kicked off on Tuesday, 17th August 2010. It will conclude the final results on Sunday after going through the same format of matches. The winners of both categories will share the US$30,000 for the first place prize. Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil are defending the Paf Open Title, while in the men’s competitions Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of Netherland are the defending champions of SWATCH FIVB Paf Open Championship.
The triumphant pairs of the last tournament, the Otera Open, Norway seemed on top of their toes to extend their winning streaks with another title. Juliana/Larissa set a record of capturing the 36th international Beach Volleyball titles together. They dismissed the Chinese Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in the final showdown, and it was their 14th win against them in a total of 19 clashes. They have captured five straight gold medals in 2010 season. They titles won by them are as follows.
ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Stavanger, Norway
1 to 1 energy Grand Slam Gstaad, Switzerland
A-1 Grand Slam Klagenfurt, Austria
Mazury Orlen Grand Slam Stare Jablonki, Poland
Otera Open Kristiansand, Norway.
The five gold medals in row put them in a great mood to clinch another title at SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship in Aland, Norway. Juliana/Larissa broke the dead-lock of 35 gold medals set by American Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
Moreover, the top-seeded Juliana and Larissa have good records in the previous episodes of this event. They won the Paf Open Title in 2007 by defeating Chinese Jia Tian and Jie Wang. Juliana/Larissa took on American Jen Kessy and April Ross in the final match of Paf Open in 2009. The gold medal was secured by superb Brazilian pair once again. This time around, they are in the search of third-straight gold medal in Aland, Finland.
In men’s section, Dalhausser and Rogers made great breakthrough by winning 8 titles in a season. They defeated Brazilian Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado. Dalhausser/Rogers actually broke the previous record of seven wins in a single, which was set by Emanuel and Ricardo Santos of Brazil. The seven titles in a season have been claimed by other Brazilians as well but Dalhausser/Rogers set a new record of capturing 8 titles in season. They aim to win another trophy and set a record of highest number of titles in a season in both genders.
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