Samoilovs / Smedins first European team to win back-to-back World Tour crowns

Lausanne, Switzerland, December 10, 2014.  Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs / Janis Smedins have been announced as FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour champions 2014 with all teams entered at the season finale Mangaung Open in South Africa too far behind to catch up with them in the rankings.

The duo are now the first European pair to win back-to-back World Tour titles as well as the first team to claim two successive crowns since Brazil’s Emanuel Rego / Ricardo Santos dominated the Tour from 2003 to 2007.

The ranking was confirmed ahead of the Mangaung Open which began on Tuesday.  Had either USA’s Phil Dalhausser / Sean Rosenthal or Brazil’s Bruno Oscar Schmidt / Alison Cerutti won the tournament, there was an outside chance that the Latvian tandem would have lost the title they won in Durban last year.  However, with neither team set to feature, Samoilovs / Smedins take the prize for the second season running.

The Latvian stars have finished on the top step of the podium just once this year – at the Puerto Vallarta Open in Mexico – but nine top 5 finishes, including two silver medals, help them retain the title they won in 2013.

The pair also picked up silver at the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Cagliari, Italy and will go into 2015 confident of qualifying for their first Olympic Games as a team.

The 2014 FIVB World Tour concludes in South Africa with the double-gender $150,000 FIVB Mangaung Open from December 9 through 14.

Click here for more info on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Mangaung Open.