Recap of 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour – Men’s Beach Volleyball
The Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) in collaboration with its major sponsors, the SWATCH Group, successfully completed another world tour, which invited beach volleyball athletes from every nook and cranny of the world to showcase their mesmerising
skills in front of the international audience and catch the limelight.
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour featured 14 men’s tournaments that took place from April 7 to October 7. The tour consisted of 10 tournaments where men’s and women’s competitions ran parallel but four tournaments featured separate gender games.
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour saw the rise of Brazilian duos as most of the gold medals were secured by South Americans. The dynamic Brazilian tandem of Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego enjoyed huge spotlight for winning five gold medals.
Additionally, they also captured one silver and one bronze medal victory. American top-seeded Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser followed with four gold, three silver, and two bronze medal wins.
Likewise, the pairing of Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha from Brazil secured top slots in two tournaments. Another Brazilian stud Marcio Araujo bagged two gold medals with two different partners on the tour.
Overall Brazil emerged as number 1 country for winning most number of medals on the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour. Brazilian men seized nine gold, two silver, and three bronze medals. USA was ranked second for collecting four gold, five silver, and three bronze
medals in the men’s section.
The American pairing of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser opened the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour with gold medal victory at the Brasilia Open in Brazil. They defeated their archrivals Brazilian Alison and Emanuel in the final showdown. The U.S. duo continued
with success in the next tournament and achieved a milestone of making a winning streak of 40 matches.
The Shanghai Open in China was the second tournament on SWATCH World Tour, where Rogers/Dalhausser defeated their country mates Gibb and Rosenthal. In the next run, teams travelled to Polish City Prague. This time, the Brazilian Alison/Emanuel overcame the
Americans and seized gold-ware at the Myslowice Open.
In the fourth tournament, American star Dalhausser met an ankle injury and team was forfeited in the third round of the Beijing Open. Brazilian Emanuel/Alison took full advantage of the opportunity and built a winning streak of three matches.
However, they were detracted by Marcio Araujo/Ricardo at the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam in Norway. They pushed Alison/Emanuel behind and clinched success in the all-Brazil final match. Emanuel and Alison made a great comeback in the next two tournaments and
added two more gold medals to their tally.
Dalhausser/Rogers of US also bounced back in the game at the Quebec Open Jeep Tournament in Canada and once again went on the top. After securing gold in Canada, they proved their endeavours at the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam and bagged fourth gold medal victory
on the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour.
In the next four tournaments, Emanuel and Alison could not claw their way to the finals but Dalhausser and Rogers played in the final match of PAF Open in Aland, Finland and finished second.
Netherlands Nummerdo and Schuil rounded off the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World with gold medal victory at the Agadir Open in Morocco.
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