Dutchmen finish season with third straight title

SANYA, China -- Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of The Netherlands rebounded from a second-round defeat to win their next seven matches and capture the gold medal here Saturday by defeating Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin of China in the men's final of the US$380,000 Sanya Open, the last men's tournament of the year.

It was Nummerdor and Schuil's third-straight FIVB World Tour gold medal as the Dutchman had won their last two international open events by capturing finales in Finland and The Netherlands over teams from Germany and Spain, respectively. Five weeks before this week's event, Nummerdor and Schuil also won the European continental championships in Sochi, Russia.

With their 21-13 and 21-14 win in 35 minutes over the ninth-seeded Wu and Xu, the top-seeded Nummerdor and Schuil shared the $30,000 first-place prize. Wu and Xu, who were competing in their sixth FIVB World Tour, split $21,000 for second-place in their first international event together since their ninth-place finish at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Sunday's meeting was the 10th-time the two teams have met on the FIVB World Tour with the Wu and Xu still holding a 6-4 edge in the confrontations. The two teams played each other in an international finale in Croatia in 2008 with Nummerdor and Schuil winning 17-21, 21-17 and 15-11 in Zagreb.

"We are very pleased with our finish to the season," said the 36-year old Schuil, who was named the FIVB most outstanding player for the Sanya Open. "Our goal was to play our best beach volleyball at the end of the season since I was getting married in June and did not really start practicing hard until after my honeymoon. Thankfully, we played our best match of the tournament today against a very good team."

After placing ninth, seventh, ninth and 17th in their first four FIVB World Tour events this season, Nummerdor finished fourth or higher in their next six of seven starts on the 2009 international calendar to rank as the No. 4 team on the circuit behind pairs from Germany, Brazil and Spain.

With the Sanya Open being the 14th and final men's event on the 2009 FIVB World Tour calendar, Nummerdor and Schuil reached Saturday's final with a 21-16 and 21-18 semi-final win in 38 minutes Friday afternoon over second-seeded Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain. The Spaniards finished the season as the No. 3-ranked FIVB pair behind Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann of Germany and Alison Cerutti/Harley Marques of Brazil.

Wu and Xu gained a spot in the Sanya Open finale with a 21-12 and 21-19 win in 38 minutes over 16th-seeded Yury Bogatov and Serguei Prokopiev of Russia. The Chinese team split after the Beijing Summer Games to prepare for their country's National Games.

In the bronze medal match, Herrera and Gavira captured their fifth FIVB World Tour podium placement in 11 events together in 2009 by scoring 17-21, 21-12 and 15-10 in 55 minutes over Bogatov and Prokopiev. The Spaniards split $15,000 for their third bronze medal in 2009 while Bogatov and Prokopiev shared $11,200 for fourth-place. The Russians became only the third men's team from their country to advance to a FIVB World Tour semi-final in the 23-year history of the international circuit that began in 1987 in Rio de Janeiro.

With the Sanya Open being the 12th and final double gender event on the 2009 FIVB World Tour, the women's "final four" matches will be played Sunday where defending champions Jen Kessy and April Ross of the United States are still in contention along with compatriots Angie Akers/Tyra Turner, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti of Italy and Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland.

Content courtesy of: International Volleyball Federation