Brazil's Alison Cerutti, left, and teammate Emanuel Rego, here celebrating their first FIVB Swatch World Championship together Sunday in Rome, are the current FIVB Swatch World Tour point and money leaders.

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 22, 2011--The FIVB Swatch Beach Volleyball World Championships, the fourth of twelve double-gender events on the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour calendar was played this past weekend in Rome, Italy where teams from the Brazil (Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, men and Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, women) captured the gold medals.

The 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour calendar has a one-week break while the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Youth World Championships is played in Umag, Croatia from June 22 through June 26.  The world tour starts back up the following week with three straight double-gender Grand Slams in Stavanger, Norway from June 27-July 3, Gstaad, Switzerland from July 4-10 and Moscow, Russia from July 11-17.  The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour then leaves Europe for North America in a double-gender Open in Québec, Canada from July 19-24 before returning to Europe for the final two double-gender Grand Slams in Stare Jablonki, Poland from July 25-31 and Klagenfurt, Austria from August 1-7.
2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Men’s Leaders (through June 19)
Men (Team Rank, points)
1, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 3,180
2, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 2,620
3, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 2,360
4, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 2,040
5, Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 2,000
6, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 1,600
7, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 1,580
8, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 1,300
9, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 1,260
10, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 1,220
10, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 1,220
12, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Patrick Heuscher, Switzerland, 1,200
13, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 1,160
14, Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 1,060
15, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 1,020
16, Pedro Cunha/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 940
17, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 820
18, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 800
19, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 718
20, Anders Lund Hoyer/Bo Soderberg, Denmark, 680
21, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 660
22, Karl Jaani/Rivo Vesik, Estonia, 588
23, Yaroslav Koshkarev/Konstantin Semenov, Russia, 560
23, Clemens Doppler/Matthias Mellitzer, Austria, 560
23, Brad Keenan/Casey Patterson, United States, 560
Men (Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings)
1, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 5, 3, $160,500
2, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 5, 2, $105,200
3, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 4, 0, $88,600
4, Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 4, 0, $73,300
5, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 5, 0, $56,000
6, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 5, 0, $47,200
7, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 5, 0, $45,100
8, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 3, 0, $42,200
9, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 5, 0, $41,600
10, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Patrick Heuscher, Switzerland, 4, 0, $38,800
11, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 5, 0, $34,700
12, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 5, 0, $32,450
13, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 5, 0, $32,200
14, Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 4, 0, $32,000
15, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 3, 0, $26,600
16, Pedro Cunha/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 4, 0, $25,100
17, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 3, 0, $24,200
18, Anders Lund Hoyer/Bo Soderberg, Denmark, 2, 0, $21,500
19, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 5, 0, $20,050
20, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 3, 0, $19,700
21, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 4, 0, $19,250
22, Hannes Brinkborg/Stefan Gunnarsson, Sweden, 5, 0, $16,750
23, Karl Jaani/Rivo Vesik, Estonia, 5, 0, $16,350
24, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 4, 0, $16,200

2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Women’s Leaders (through June 19)
Women (Team Rank, points)
1, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 3,040
2, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 2,720
3, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 2,660
3, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 2,660
5, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 2,640
6, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 2,160
6, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 2,160
8, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 2,040
9, Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Hanson, United States, 1,940
10, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, Brazil, 1,840
11, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 1,800
12, Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, Czech Republic, 1,440
13, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 1,420
14, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 1,400
15, Angie Akers/Nicole Branagh, United States, 1,380
16, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 1,340
17, Jana Kohler/Julia Sude, Germany, 1,160
18, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 1,120
19, Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins/Cristine "Saka" Santanna, Georgia, 900
20, Ying Huang/Yuan Yue, China, 790
21, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner, Spain, 740
22, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 700
23, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 690
24, Zara Dampney/Shauna Mullin, Great Britain, 588
Women (Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings)
1, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 5, 3, $134,200
2, Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 4, 1, $120,700
3, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 6, 0, $99,600
4, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 6, 0, $90,400
5, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 6, 2, $86,500
6, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 6, 0, $73,500
7, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 6, 0, $64,250
8, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 6, 0, $58,300
9, Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Hanson, United States, 5, 0, $52,650
10, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 5, 0, $48,750
11, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, Brazil, 6, 0, $47,800
12, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 6, 0, $47,300
13, Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, Czech Republic, 5, 0, $45,850
14, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 6, 0, $37,500
15, Angie Akers/Nicole Branagh, United States, 6, 0, $37,450
16, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 6, 0, $35,150
17, Jana Kohler/Julia Sude, Germany, 6, 0, $33,350
18, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 6, 0, $29,400
19, Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins/Cristine "Saka" Santanna, Georgia, 6, 0, $24,050
20, Ying Huang/Yuan Yue, China, 6, 0, $22,100
21, Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner, Spain, 4, 0, $20,900
22, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 6, 0, $20,400
23, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 6, 0, $17,800
24, Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia, Mexico, 5, 0, $16,900

2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Highlights
• The FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour circuit will visit 18 sites in 16 countries over an eight-month period.
• The 2011 calendar will feature 15 women's and 14 men's events within all five confederations plus one special 24-team per gender test event held August 9-14 at London's Horse Guard Parade, the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games. The FIVB Swatch World Tour will offer $7.64-million in prize money.
• Twelve of the tournaments will be combined men's and women's events, including the World Championships and all six Grand Slam stops.
• Women's-only stops will be in China (Sanya), Poland (Myslowice), and Thailand (Phuket). Men's only stops will be in the Czech Republic (Prague) and Morocco (Agadir).
• New stops on this year's calendar are the double gender event in Canada (Québec) and the first event in Morocco (Agadir), after a five year absence from Africa.
• The 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championships will be played in Rome, Italy beginning June 13 and concluding on June 19. This is the first time that Italy has hosted the World Championships.
• The tour returns to Beijing, the scene of the 2008 Olympic Games after two year's absence, with a double gender Grand Slam, the first ever held in Asia.
• The $3.6-million FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Grand Slam series will return to Norway (Stavanger), Switzerland (Gstaad), Russia (Moscow), Poland (Stare Jablonki), and Austria (Klagenfurt).
• Stavanger, Gstaad, and Klagenfurt have each staged eleven or more FIVB-sanctioned Beach Volleyball events. Each site has also hosted the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championships (Klagenfurt in 2001, Gstaad in 2007 and Stavanger in 2009).
• China will stage three and Poland will present two FIVB Swatch World Tour stops in 2011.
• The men's calendar concludes with the new event in Morocco in early October while the women's tour finishes in Thailand the following month.
• The International Beach Volleyball calendar will also feature World Championships for players under the age of 21. Croatia will host the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Youth World Championships June 21-26 in Umag for players under the age of 19. Canada will host the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior World Championships for players under the age of 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia Aug. 31-Sept. 4 . This will be the first time either country has hosted these events. The U-19 world championships in 2010 were held in Porto, Portugal before Turkey hosted the U-21s in Alanya.
• IMG Sports Media will continue to have the exclusive distribution media rights for the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour. For the second 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, China and Phuket, Thailand. 

2011 Men FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Schedule
Dates Site Open/GS/WC Gold Medal Team or Purse
April 18-23  Brasília, Brazil  Open  Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States
May 2-7  Shanghai, China  Open  Dalhausser/Rogers, United States
May 17-22  Prague, Czech Republic  Open  Alison Ceruti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil
June 6-11  Beijing, China  Grand Slam  Alison/Emanuel, Brazil
June 13-19  Rome, Italy  World Championship  Alison/Emanuel, Brazil
June 28-July 3  Stavanger, Norway  Grand Slam  $300,000
July 5-10  Gstaad, Switzerland  Grand Slam  $300,000
July 12-17  Moscow, Russia  Grand Slam  $300,000
July 19-24  Québec, Canada  Open  $190,000
July 26-31  Stare Jablonki, Poland  Grand Slam  $300,000
August 2-7  Klagenfurt, Austria  Grand Slam  $300,000
August 16-21  Åland, Finland  Open  $190,000
August 23-28  The Hague, Netherlands  Open  $190,000
October 4-9  Agadir, Morocco  Open  $190,000

2011 Women FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Schedule
Dates Site Open/GS/WC Gold Medal Team or Purse
April 17-22  Brasília, Brazil  Open  Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil
April 26-May 1  Sanya, China  Open  Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
May 3-8  Shanghai, China  Open  Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands
May 17-22  Myslowice, Poland  Open  Keizer/Van Iersel, Netherlands
June 6-11  Beijing, China  Grand Slam  Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States
June 13-19  Rome, Italy  World Championship  Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
June 27-July 2  Stavanger, Norway  Grand Slam  $300,000
July 4-9  Gstaad, Switzerland  Grand Slam  $300,000
July 11-16  Moscow, Russia  Grand Slam  $300,000
July 19-24  Québec, Canada  Open  $190,000
July 25-30  Stare Jablonki, Poland  Grand Slam  $300,000
August 1-6  Klagenfurt, Austria  Grand Slam  $300,000
August 15-20  Åland, Finland  Open  $190,000
August 23-28  The Hague, Netherlands  Open  $190,000
November 1-6  Phuket, Thailand  Open  $190,000

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