Brazilians capture men's Serbia & Montenegro FIVB Open

After two events of "cashing" second-place checks, top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos regained their gold medal form on Sunday (May 30) in capturing the $180,000 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event for the second title of the 2004 international season.

Following silver medal finishes in South Africa and China, Emanuel and Ricardo returned to the top of podium by defeating third-seeded Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann of Germany 21-18 and 21-19 in 43 minutes to shared the $27,000 first-place prize. The Germans split $18,000 for finishing second.

In March, Emanuel and Ricardo won 2004 SWATCH-FIVB season opener in Brazil before being upset the next weekend in South Africa by fellow country men Tande Ramos and Franco Neto. When the international tour resumed in China last week, the Brazilians were upset by Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera of Spain in the finals.

Emanuel has now won 50 pro beach titles in his career, including 43 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medals. The 2003 FIVB World Championships after capturing the crown last October in Rio de Janeiro, Emanuel and Ricardo have now teamed to win seven international titles together. Ricardo, who captured the silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with Ze Marco de Melo, has now won 23 FIVB titles.

For the 29th-time in 151 "open" men's FIVB events, the "final four" tandems were from four different countries - Brazil, Estonia, Germany and Switzerland. Emanuel and Ricardo defeated Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel 21-14 and 21-16 in Sunday's first semi-final match Sunday. Dieckmann and Reckermann advanced to the finals with a 21-16 and 21-16 win over 27th-seeded Kristjan Kais and Rivo Vesik of Estonia.

Heuscher and Kobel, who were beaten by Emanuel and Ricardo in the finals in Brazil earlier this season, captured the bronze medal Sunday by defeating Kais and Vesik 21-17 and 21-18. The Swiss shared $14,000 while Kais and Vesik split $11,000 as a team from Estonia advanced to an "open final four" for the first-time on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour stop.

The Estonians, who had to qualify for this week's Main Draw, best previous finish in an "open" international event was a 13th in March in Salvador, Brazil. Kais and Vesik, who are competing in their 16th international event together, posted a third in a Greece challenger event last season.

For the second-straight week, the teams of Todd Rogers/Sean Scott and Eric Fonoimoana/Kevin Wong paced the United States men's teams on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour. Both tandems placed ninth after being eliminated Saturday to each share a $5,500 check. Rogers and Scott placed fourth last week in China where Fonoimoana and Wong tied for fifth.

Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger, the third American team in the 32-team Main Draw, placed 13th after losing a 22-20 and 24-22 elimination match Saturday morning to Fonoimoana and Wong to even the series between the two teams at 1-1. Holdren and Metzger split four matches this week to split $4,000.

All three teams were continuing their competition on this beach in Southeastern Europe for a spot on the United States Olympic beach volleyball team for the 2004 Athens Games. Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, the top United States team on the Olympic qualification list, skipped the international event to participate this week in the first of three-straight domestic events in Southern California. Blanton won the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medal with Fonoimoana.

With the Olympic qualifying process for men continuing the Fourth of July weekend, Blanton and Nygaard top the American list with 2,188 points after placing seventh last week in China for their best international finish this season. Rogers and Scott are second on the United States Olympic qualifying list with 1,624 points for their best eight finishes since the start of the Olympic-qualifying process in January 2003.

Holdren and Metzger, who placed 17th last weekend in China, rank third on the United States Olympic qualifying list with 1,512 points for six Olympic-qualifying events. Fonoimoana and Wong still have a chance for the second USA spot as the pair has compiled 890 Olympic qualifying points for their six events.

Following the completion of the Serbia and Montenegro Open where the winning team shares the $27,000 first-place prize, the men's Olympic qualifying continues through July 11 with events scheduled the next five weeks in Portugal, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Germany and Norway to determine the 24 men's teams for the Athens Games.

The teams of Rogers/Scott and Holdren/Metzger have entered in the Portugal event. Rogers and Scott tied for fifth in last year in Espinho, which is hosting its 10th SWATCH-FIVB World Tour men's event. Metzger teamed with Wong to win the 2002 Portugal event.

For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.