Yeah, there’s a tournament going on right now. It’s called the “Open Russian Cup,” whatever the hell that is. The most noteworthy player in the field is Mārtiņš Pļaviņš (though it seems his Olympic-bronze-winning, Stare Jablonki-gold-winning partner Jānis Šmēdiņš is staying at home). There’s a few other Olympians in the tournament, but no one of any great note. And…I’ll be damned if I can find any direct information about the tournament on the web (the link above is an FIVB press release hyping Pļaviņš’ attendance). I know the tournament is actually happening, because there are some livestreams for it, but it seems…ehhh, a bit quaint to provide coverage for matches when I don’t have the foggiest idea of the context. And when I’ve heard of so few of the players — it’s a standard-sized tournament, with Pļaviņš, maybe half a dozen less successful Olympians, and a whole lot of nobodies.
I’m somewhat confused about the state of the FIVB Men’s Tour. The Agadir Open in Morocco ended the season last year, and another edition was scheduled for this season, but it seems to have been canceled. Gibb and Rosenthal have been named the men’s points champions for this year, despite their lead over Emanuel and Alison hardly being insurmountable if there was another tournament. But the FIVB’s page for the tournament is still there, as if the show were bound to go on. It has been removed from the calendar, so I’d guess it is in fact canceled, but when did it happen? An FVIB press release from June has it on the upcoming calendar. One in the same vein from August has it removed. And Google as I might, I can come across no presser confirming the event’s cancellation. This is in contrast to the Quebec event, which should have started three days ago, but was confirmed as being canceled back in April. So um…..I dunno.
Really. And it looks like Kerri Walsh Jennings will stay with Nicole Branagh for the rest of the season (2 more tournaments). I had thought she’d announced having different partners for the remaining tournaments, but it’s Kerri and Nicole again next week in Finland.
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