The former indoor middle blocker Alex Ranghieri brought the second men’s title to his country in 2015 after he and partner Adrian Carambula, one of the circuit’s surprise packages, won the Antalya Open. Ranghieri was involved in the first Italian triumph earlier on in May as well when, together with Marco Caminati, he won the second stop of the 2015 season – the Lucerne Open.
Moved from August to the end of October, the Turkish Open made its debut as a World Tour organizer. The megapolis Istanbul had been originally scheduled to host the Open, but the Turkish Federation was forced to change the location and moved the event to the Mediterranean shores of one of the country’s most renowned summer destinations. The change of dates also meant that FIVB recognized the Antalya Open as part of the 2015-2016 season, albeit taking place in 2015, and thus points gathered there will be taken into account for next year’s Olympic ranking.
Probably the most unconventional twosome on the Tour this year, the reigning European vice-champions won their first gold medal together, following a series of impressive tournament results. The win in Antalya was preceded by a bronze-medal finish at the Porec Major in Croatia, a fourth place at the Gstaad Major, and a runner-up position at the European Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria. Force majeure circumstances prevented the Italians from participating at the Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals where they were granted a wild card thanks to their outstanding season (and eventually replaced by fellow Italians Nicolai-Lupo). However, the 500 points they grabbed by snatching the gold in Antalya plus the quarterfinal position at the previous Open in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (also part of next year’s calendar) sends Ranghieri-Carambula on top of the current 2015-2016 rankings.
The Turkish Open went almost flawless for the Italians. They were seeded second but had some difficulties winning their preliminary Pool B. Ranghieri-Carambula were seriously challenged by the Canadians Pedlow-O’Gorman, beating them eventually in three sets, and had to forfeit their last group game against the Norwegians Hordvik-Usken due to an injury. The short rest they took helped them to achieve a perfect series of four straight-set wins, the last one of which in the final against Virgen-Ontiveros. Ranghieri-Carambula remained confident throughout the whole gold medal match and prevailed (21-19, 21-16) over the Mexicans.
“I have no words for it”, the 28-year-old Ranghieri said. “And these 500 points are so important for the Olympics.” On the provisional Olympic ranking the Italians place 17th at the moment. To add some more points, they will play in the final World Tour event of the year in Doha. “That will be our last one and then we are going to take a little break”, said Carambula, who will need some rehab on a little tear in his shoulder. “We feel well, we are still hungry, I really don’t want to stop, but we will take a little break after that.”
Despite missing out on the gold medals, Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros could still be delighted with their 2015 campaign. They finished 9th at the World Championship where they were one of the pleasant surprises, built on their enthusiasm weeks after that to claim the Pan Am Games in Canada, and now appeared in their first-ever World Tour final. Virgen-Ontiveros also won the bronze medals at last year’s domestic Puerto Vallarta Open.
The Latvian pair Plavins-Regza enjoyed their first podium together in the bronze medal game earlier on. Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza won the inaugural European Games in June and now defeated the Chilean cousins Grimalt in straight sets (21-15, 21-17) on another glorious day for Latvian beach volleyball. The two were extremely close to their first podium a month ago at the Xiamen Open but had to leave China without medals as they finished fourth after a defeat to countrymen Samoilovs-Smedins. Destiny rewarded their hard work in 2015 with a more cheerful week in Turkey.
“We are very happy, because it’s our first medal on the World Tour together”, Plavins, who is aiming towards his third Olympics with a third different partner, said. “And we still remember how we felt after the fourth place in China. Now everything is perfect for us.”
Meanwhile, this was the best finish in 2015 for Esteban and Marco Grimalt. The Chileans stunned the top-seeded Samoilovs-Smedins in Round 2 (21-17, 21-17) and then outplayed the impressive Belgians Koekelkoren-van Walle for a place in the semifinals. However, it was another team from Latvia that deprived the silver medallists from the Opens in 2014 in Parana and Mangaung from another medal placement.
