Rogers and Dalhausser retain Shanghai Grand Slam title

Rogers and Dalhausser retain Shanghai Grand Slam title
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser show off their gold medals after winning the Shanghai Grand Slam, which they also won last year          Shanghai, China, May 6, 2012 – Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser needed to be at their best on Sunday to retain their Shanghai title with a 2-1 (21-19, 22-24, 15-11) victory over fellow Americans Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal in the final of the Shanghai Grand Slam presented by Jinshan Xinchen. “I thought we played really well,” Rogers said. “Jake and Rosey played very well, but I was very pleased with how we handled them.” The gold medal is their second of 2012 after they beat another U.S. team in the final of the Brasilia Open. That time it was Mathew Fuerbringer and Nicholas Lucena who fell to the 2008 Olympic champions.  “It was good to see another American team in the final and it happened in Brasilia as well,” Rogers stated. “We’ve got three American teams playing at the top of the world.” For Gibb and Rosenthal the silver medal represents their best result on the FIVB SWATCH World Tour since they finished third at the 2011 Quebec Open.  “They played great and they really just sided-out great,” Gibb said. “We can’t beat them if they side out that well. They played great and we can’t take anything away from them.” Pedro and Marcio Araujo win bronze medal Pedro and Marcio Araujo finished with the bronze medal after a tightly contested match against Bruno and Benjamin, who were aiming to finish third having had to go through the country quota and qualifications rounds. It appeared as though Benjamin and Bruno were on course to achieve that feat after they won the first set, but Pedro and Marcio kept them at arm’s length in the second and sneaked the third to win 16-21, 21-15, 15-13. For Pedro it was his fifth medal at the Shanghai event, after he won gold in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and silver in 2009. Marcio previously won gold in 2006 and silver in 2007.  “It is great and very important for us because it means we avoid the country quota matches in Prague,” Pedro said. “We want to be in the main draw at every tournament. I love to play here because it is where I won my first professional title and it is very nice to be back here.” The 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour is scheduled over a seven-month period and features 12 tournaments for both men and women. For the men, the season starts in April in Brazil and ends in October in Morocco.  The $600,000 Shanghai Grand Slam is the second of nine double gender events and the winning pair share a $43,500 purse.  It is the ninth straight year in which Shanghai has hosted an FIVB SWATCH World Tour event.  Following the completion of the Shanghai Grand Slam, the World Tour now moves on to China’s capital for the Beijing Grand Slam (May 8-13).  http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2012/Event/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34462