Switzerland hosts world's top beach volleyball player

The world's top pro beach volleyball players return to Switzerland for the fifth-straight year as the European competitors seek their first title after seeing tandems from North and South America capture the first four Gstaad events.

Gstaad will be staging a women's international stop for the fifth-straight year while the Swiss community will be holding a men's event for the fourth year. The first of five-straight mixed gender events on the 2004 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, the US$360,000 1to1 Energy Open starts Tuesday for women and Wednesday for the men with qualifying to determine the final eight entries into the Main Draws.

Part of the Olympic Beach Volleyball process, the 1to1 Energy Open will be the first of four-straight events in Europe before the July 11 deadline to determine the 24 men's teams for the 2004 Athens Games in August. The process concludes with events in Germany, Norway and Mallorca.

The women's Main Draw starts Thursday and concludes Saturday when the final two teams compete for the $27,000 first-place prize. The 1to1 Energy Open is the fifth women's event on the 2004 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour after opening stops in Brazil, Greece, China and Japan.

The men's Main Draw starts Friday and concludes Sunday as the final two tandems compete for the $27,000 first-place prize. The 1to1 Energy Open is the seventh women's event on the 2004 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour after opening stops in Brazil, South Africa, China, Serbia & Montenegro, Portugal and Puerto Rico.

Misty May and Kerri Walsh of the United States have won the last two women's events in the Swiss Alps by defeating Brazilians in the finals. The young Americans defeated Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar for the 2002 title before capturing the 2003 gold medal by stopping Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires.

Shelda and Adriana won the first two Gstaad titles in 2000 and 2001 where they defeated American teams in the finals, including May with Holly McPeak in 2000 and Barbra Fontana and Elaine Youngs in 2002. McPeak and Youngs are entered together this season while Fontana will be playing with Jennifer Kessy.

May missed last week's domestic stop in San Diego due to an abdominal strain after seeing her team's 90-match and 15-event string of successes stop June 6 in the AVP Tour's Manhattan Beach by Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan in the semifinals.

May and Walsh are the No. 1 ranked team in the world on the Olympic qualifying list with 3,900 points from their best eight finishes on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour since January 2003. McPeak and Youngs used the win in China to move into the second spot on the Olympic qualifying list with 2,734 points as compared to Davis and Johnson Jordan's 2,702 points.

McPeak added to her records Sunday by winning her 69th pro beach volleyball title in San Diego with Youngs. McPeak is also the women's career leader for tournaments played (230) and earnings ($1,220,701). She and Youngs have won 13 pro beach titles together, including their last three starts in China, Manhattan Beach and San Diego.

Stein Metzger and Kevin Wong of the United States won the first Gstaad men's stop in 2001 by defeating the Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) of Switzerland in the finals. Metzger returns with Dax Holdren as his partner this season with Wong playing with Eric Fonoimoana, the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medalists with Dain Blanton. Blanton is playing this season with Jeff Nygaard.

Argentina's Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde, the 2002 1to1 Energy Open winners when they defeated Marcio Araujo and Benjamin in the finals, also return to the Swiss community this year. In three Gstaad starts, Baracetti and Conde have compiled $37,500 in winnings with fifths in 2001 and 2003. Marcio Araujo and Benjamin won the 2003 Gstaad men's title by defeating Germans Marcus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann in the finals.

With a fourth-place finish in Puerto Rico Sunday Holdren and Metzger added 252 points to their Olympic point total for seven finishes together since January 2003. Holdren and Metzger still need to play in one more SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event before the July 11 deadline to become Olympic-qualified. The pair has amassed 1,764 points for a possible Athens berth.

For eight events, Todd Rogers and Sean Scott have compiled 1,624 points to still rank second on the United States list behind Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard (2,296 points). Once Holdren and Metzger play their first match in the next SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event in Switzerland, they will move into the No. 2 USA spot.

Karch Kiraly, the winningest player in pro beach history, won his 146th title Sunday in San Diego when he and Mike Lambert became the first two-time men's winners on the AVP Tour. The Kiraly/Lambert win in Manhattan Beach June 6 gave the domestic tour its fifth different winner in as many men's events this season.

After the $360,000 mixed gender event in Switzerland, the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour ends the Olympic qualifying process with three more European stops in Germany, Norway and Mallorca for both men and women. After the July 11 Olympic-qualifying deadline, the international tour continues with another mixed gender event in France.

Pro Beach Volleyball Team Leaders (Through June 13) Athens 2004 Olympic Games Qualifying Lists

The Athens Olympic Games Beach Volleyball competitions will feature 24 men's teams from around the world and will run from August 14-25.

(*host country berth, #African Confederation berth).

Men's Provisional Ranking, Team, Country, qualifying points 1. Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 3,824 2. Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran, Brazil, 3,038 3. Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel, Switzerland, 2.552 4. Markus Dieckmann/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 2,532 5. Martin Laciga/Paul Laciga, Switzerland, 2,442 6. Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard, United States, 2,296 7. Vegard Hoidalen/Jorre Kjemperud, Norway, 2,162 8. Mariano Baracetti/Martin Conde, Argentina, 2,290 9. Nikolas Berger/Clemens Doppler, Austria, 2,024 10. Christoph Dieckmann/Andreas Scheuerpflug, Germany, 1,838 11. Todd Rogers/Sean Scott, United States, 1,624 12. Joao Brenha/Luis Maia, Portugal, 1,578 13. Francisco Alvarez/Juan Rosell, Cuba, 1,360 14. Julien Prosser/Mark Williams, Australia, 1,456 15. Bjorn Berg/Simon Dahl, Sweden, 1,248 16. Javier Bosma/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 1,272 17. Andrew Schacht/Josh Slack, Australia, 1,320 18. Iver Horrem/Bjorn Maaseide, Norway, 1,016 19. Ramon Hernandez/Raul Papaleo, Puerto Rico, 1,004 20. Stephane Canet/Mathieu Hamel, France, 906 21. John Child/Mark Heese, Canada, 926 22. Peter Gartmayer/Robert Nowotny, Austria, 874 23. Pavlos Beligratis/Thanassis Michalopoulos, Greece, 220* 24. Mario Silva/Miguel Xisto, Angola, 226#

Women's Provisional Ranking, Team, Country, qualifying points 1. Misty May/Kerri Walsh, United States, 3,900 2. Ana Paula Connelly/Sandra Pires, Brazil, 3,474 3. Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, Brazil, 3,308 4. Natalie Cook/Nicole Sanderson, Australia, 2,750 5. Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs, United States, 2,734 6. Tian Jia/Wang Fei, China, 2,116 7. Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau, Germany, 2,034 Nicole Schnyder-Benoit/Simone Kuhn, Switzerland, 2,034 9. Eva Celbova/Sona Novakova, Czech Republic, 1,904 10. Rebekka Kadijk/Marrit Leenstra, Netherlands, 1,728 11. Danja Musch, Suzanne Lahme, Germany, 1,726 12. Whenhui You/Lu Wang, China, 1,710 13. Vasso Karadassiou/Efi Sfyri, Greece, 1,640 14. Tamara Larrea Peraza/Dalixia Fernandez Grasset, Cuba, 1,456 15. Efthalia Koutroumanidou/Vassiliki Arvaniti, Greece, 1,408 16. Daniela Gattelli/Lucilla Perrotta, Italy 1,176 17. Chiaki Kusuhara/Ryo Tokuno, Japan, 1,132 18. Hilda Gaxiola/Mayra Garcia, Mexico, 1,116 19. Guylaine Dumont/Annie Martin, Canada, 1,054 20. Nila Ann Hakedal/Ingrid Torlen, Norway, 962 21. Lina Yanchulova/Petia Yanchulova, Bulgaria, 956 22. Milagros Crespo/Imara Esteves Ribalta, Cuba, 908 Ethel-Julie Arjona/Virginie Kadjo, France, 908 24. Leigh-Ann Naidoo/Julia Willand, South Africa, 394#

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