Post by Will Rogers Beach on Jul 31, 2005 12:46:36 GMT -5
I was hoping for an American sweep after May/Walsh captured the gold medal yesterday. Gibb/Metzger got the silver medal today. The Europeans (mostly Swiss & Germans) and the Brazilians have been dominating the men's FIVB circuit.
www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2005/beach_page.asp?pg=PRE&TRN=MPAR2005&sm=21
Swiss Experience Nets Beach Volley Paris Ile de France Gold Medal
Paris, France, July 31, 2005 - Playing in their 71st international event together paid off for Olympic Beach Volleyball bronze medallists Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel as the Switzerland pair captured their second "open" SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medal by defeating Jake Gibb and Stein Metzger of the United States here Sunday in the finals of the men's US$560,000 Beach Volley Paris Ile de France.
With their 21-14 and 21-16 win in 41 minutes, the fifth-seeded Heuscher and Kobel shared the $41,500 first-place prize for their "biggest" pay check since starting their partnership in 1998. Heuscher was also named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the event. Playing in only their third SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event together, Gibb and Metzger split $27,000 in bettering their 13th- and fifth-place finishes in Germany and Portugal.
As both teams had to win five-straight elimination matches this week to advance to Saturday's semi-finals where they defeated a pair of unbeaten Beach Volley Paris Ile de France teams from Germany and Switzerland, the 15th-seeded Gibb and Metzger were trying to complete an American swept as Olympic and World champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the women's title Saturday.
"I don't know if this title is any better than the bronze medal in Athens or our win last season in Switzerland," said Kobel. "Obviously, the Olympic experience will always top the list, but winning today is important since it is our first this season and the second-straight for our country the past two weeks. We have had a Swiss team in every grand slam semi-final this season."
Markus Egger and Martin Laciga won last week's stop in Poland where they defeated German rivals Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann for the gold medal. Sascha Heyer and Paul Laciga posted Switzerland's first podium grand slam finish with a silver medal at the SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Berlin last month. Heuscher and Kobel followed that with a bronze medal finish the next week at the Norway grand slam.
Heuscher and Kobel's win also moved them into 16th place on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour's team earnings list with $480,510. A ninth-place or better at next week's grand slam event in Austria would move them up two more spots. Sunday's win also moved Heuscher and Kobel into the No. 5 spot on the 2005 SWATCH points list behind three teams from Brazilian and the German tandem of Julius Brink and Kjell Schneider.
After being upset in the second-round by Eric Koreng and Reckermann, Heuscher and Kobel scored elimination wins over teams from Norway, the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and the United States to advance to the semi-finals were they defeated Swiss rivals Sascha Heyer and Paul Laciga 19-21, 21-17 and 22-20. The Brazilian victory was over Olympic champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, who defeated Heuscher and Kobel in the Athens semi-finals.
Despite dropping the title match, the Americans claimed their country's first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour medal since the end of the 2003 season when Metzger and his Olympic partner Dax Holdren captured the silver podium spot at the SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. Metzger and Holdren were also eliminated by Heuscher and Kobel in the Olympic quarter-finals last August.
The Swiss now have a 1-1 mark against the United States in SWATCH gold medal match. Metzger and Kevin Wong captured their first international gold medals by defeating the Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) in the Gstaad, Switzerland finale in 2001.
In the bronze medal match, the fourth-seeded Brink and Schneider scored a 21-17 and 21-17 win in 43 minutes over the seventh-seeded Heyer and Paul Laciga. It was the second-straight medal finish for the Germans as the pair captured the gold medal in their last SWATCH-FIVB in Portugal two weeks ago. Brink and Schneider shared the $21,500 third-place prize while Heyer and Paul Laciga split $16,900.
With the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour visiting the "City of Lights" for the first-time, the Beach Volley Paris Ile de France also featured women's competition where the top-seeded May-Treanor and Walsh defeated second-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 21-17 and 21-15 for the gold medal Saturday.
Note: Here is the photo gallery.
www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2005/beach_page.asp?pg=PIC&TRN=MPAR2005&sm=125
www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2005/beach_page.asp?pg=PRE&TRN=MPAR2005&sm=21
Swiss Experience Nets Beach Volley Paris Ile de France Gold Medal
Paris, France, July 31, 2005 - Playing in their 71st international event together paid off for Olympic Beach Volleyball bronze medallists Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel as the Switzerland pair captured their second "open" SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medal by defeating Jake Gibb and Stein Metzger of the United States here Sunday in the finals of the men's US$560,000 Beach Volley Paris Ile de France.
With their 21-14 and 21-16 win in 41 minutes, the fifth-seeded Heuscher and Kobel shared the $41,500 first-place prize for their "biggest" pay check since starting their partnership in 1998. Heuscher was also named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the event. Playing in only their third SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event together, Gibb and Metzger split $27,000 in bettering their 13th- and fifth-place finishes in Germany and Portugal.
As both teams had to win five-straight elimination matches this week to advance to Saturday's semi-finals where they defeated a pair of unbeaten Beach Volley Paris Ile de France teams from Germany and Switzerland, the 15th-seeded Gibb and Metzger were trying to complete an American swept as Olympic and World champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the women's title Saturday.
"I don't know if this title is any better than the bronze medal in Athens or our win last season in Switzerland," said Kobel. "Obviously, the Olympic experience will always top the list, but winning today is important since it is our first this season and the second-straight for our country the past two weeks. We have had a Swiss team in every grand slam semi-final this season."
Markus Egger and Martin Laciga won last week's stop in Poland where they defeated German rivals Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann for the gold medal. Sascha Heyer and Paul Laciga posted Switzerland's first podium grand slam finish with a silver medal at the SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Berlin last month. Heuscher and Kobel followed that with a bronze medal finish the next week at the Norway grand slam.
Heuscher and Kobel's win also moved them into 16th place on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour's team earnings list with $480,510. A ninth-place or better at next week's grand slam event in Austria would move them up two more spots. Sunday's win also moved Heuscher and Kobel into the No. 5 spot on the 2005 SWATCH points list behind three teams from Brazilian and the German tandem of Julius Brink and Kjell Schneider.
After being upset in the second-round by Eric Koreng and Reckermann, Heuscher and Kobel scored elimination wins over teams from Norway, the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and the United States to advance to the semi-finals were they defeated Swiss rivals Sascha Heyer and Paul Laciga 19-21, 21-17 and 22-20. The Brazilian victory was over Olympic champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, who defeated Heuscher and Kobel in the Athens semi-finals.
Despite dropping the title match, the Americans claimed their country's first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour medal since the end of the 2003 season when Metzger and his Olympic partner Dax Holdren captured the silver podium spot at the SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. Metzger and Holdren were also eliminated by Heuscher and Kobel in the Olympic quarter-finals last August.
The Swiss now have a 1-1 mark against the United States in SWATCH gold medal match. Metzger and Kevin Wong captured their first international gold medals by defeating the Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) in the Gstaad, Switzerland finale in 2001.
In the bronze medal match, the fourth-seeded Brink and Schneider scored a 21-17 and 21-17 win in 43 minutes over the seventh-seeded Heyer and Paul Laciga. It was the second-straight medal finish for the Germans as the pair captured the gold medal in their last SWATCH-FIVB in Portugal two weeks ago. Brink and Schneider shared the $21,500 third-place prize while Heyer and Paul Laciga split $16,900.
With the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour visiting the "City of Lights" for the first-time, the Beach Volley Paris Ile de France also featured women's competition where the top-seeded May-Treanor and Walsh defeated second-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 21-17 and 21-15 for the gold medal Saturday.
Note: Here is the photo gallery.
www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2005/beach_page.asp?pg=PIC&TRN=MPAR2005&sm=125