2009 Swatch FIVB World Championships - Pool Schedule Announced

6/17/2009

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 17, 2009 - The first 144 matches for the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships presented by ConocoPhillips have been scheduled as competition for the 96 teams from 32 countries begins June 25 on the opening ceremony evening in Stavanger, Norway.

The first seven days of competition features pool play matches as ninth-seeded Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen of Norway will play the opening match June 25 during against 40th-seeded Stine Andreasen and Lotte Vestergaard of Denmark. For the complete pool play schedule, please visit the FIVB web site (www.fivb.org).

Alison Cerutti/Harley Marques of Brazil and Jen Kessy/April Ross of the United States, the top- seeded mens and womens team in the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships, will play their first of their three pool play matches on June 26 as the group competition will set the field for the 32-team single-elimination brackets.

The single-elimination competition begins July 2 as the top two finishing teams in each group advance along with the eight-best third-place tandems based on match record, and point/set ratios The womens medal matches will be July 4 followed by the mens podium placement matches July 5. The winning teams will share the $60,000 first-place prizes.

With a new womens champion to be crowned, the mens competition features the gold medal teams from the past three SWATCH FIVB World Championships led by 2007 winners Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States. All three past champions also filled the podium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games where the Americans defeated Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes of Brazil for the gold medal in three sets.

Marcio Araujo and Fabio won the 2005 SWATCH FIVB World Championships as the Brazilians rebounded from an opening setback to win their next nine matches to top the Berlin podium. Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos captured the 2003 SWATCH FIVB World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. Emanuel and Ricardo, the Athens 2004 Olympic champions and bronze medal winners in Beijing, begin pool play on June 26.

Emanuel and Ricardo also won four-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour events in Stavanger (2003-2006). Dalhausser/Rogers and Marcio Araujo/Fabio, who won SWATCH Grand Slam events in Stavanger in 2008 and 2007, respectively, begin play June 27.

Featuring US$1-million in prize money, the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships will have 48 mens and 48 womens teams competing on the courts on the Vaagen Harbour docks as Stavanger hosts a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event for the 11th-straight season.

Over 64,000 tickets have already been sold for the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships. A World Championship Pass is available which offers a 35% discount off the normal price of each ticket. A wide range of accommodations are still available (booking code JBG999). For more information, please visit the event web site at www.vmstavanger.com.

Following the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships, the SWATCH FIVB World Tour will stage four-straight Grand Slam events in Gstaad, Moscow, Marseille and Klagenfurt. With $7.39- million in prize money this year, the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues through the fall with the mens final event in China and the womens last stop in Thailand.

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