After finishing fourth at the Doha Challenge over the weekend, Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot are the new number one team in the men’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking. Pairs from the Netherlands now hold the top of the charts in both genders, with Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon retaining the first position on the ladies’ side despite failing to make it to the semifinals for the first time on the 2022 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.

In fact, the Dutch domination had already shaped up a week earlier, when the points from two of the Cancun 4-star events last year dropped out of the accounts and the previous number one men’s team, Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar lost the top to another duo from the Netherlands, Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen. The latter, however, stayed there only for a week. They did not take part in the Doha Challenge and dropped to number three, yielding the lead to compatriots Boermans and De Groot, who pocketed 680 points for their final four result in Qatar and improved to a 4,080 total, just 100 points clear of Cherif and Ahmed, who suffered a surprising loss in their eighth-final match at home.

“Of course, being the number one team in the World Ranking gives us a nice confidence boost. It's amazing to achieve it at the age of 21,” De Groot told Volleyball World. “But for me, it's even more important that we try to stay there. I hope this accomplishment helps us do that.”

Further high-level shuffles in the World Ranking after the next big tournaments, the Kusadasi Challenge in Turkey and the Ostrava Elite16 in Czechia during the second half of May, are also quite likely as the top 10 teams in the men’s chart are all squeezed within a 1,200-point range, and reigning Olympic champs Anders Mol and Christian Sorum of Norway are right behind them in 11th.

Doha winners Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak of Poland are a new member of the top 10. With their second gold of the season and another 800 points, their tally went up to 2,998 points, enough for the eighth place in the current ranking, nine positions up from their 17th last week.

The weekend’s runners-up Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava of Italy went up from 31 to 19, while bronze medallists Moritz Pristauz and Martin Ermacora of Austria rose from 38 to 24.

Another Austrian pair, Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller, who took 600 points by reaching the Doha quarterfinals, moved up from the ninth place last week to the fifth this week, 100 points clear of Itapema winners Andre Stein and George Wanderley of Brazil and just below fourth-ranked Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of Czechia.

At their second appearance together, Germans Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers also advanced to the Doha quarterfinals and made a giant leap in the World Ranking, from 232nd to 71st.

On the women’s side, Doha champions Barbara Seixas and Carol Solberg of Brazil improved to 4,580 points and narrowed the distance to Stam and Schoon down to 480, but the top four in the World Ranking remained unchanged. Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli finished third in Qatar and held on to their number three spot in the ranking. Germany’s Karla Borger and Julia Sude also kept their fourth place, despite failing to make the quarterfinals over the weekend.

The other Swiss pair, Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre, who did make the top eight in Doha, rose from eighth to fifth in the ranking.

The women’s top 10 has a couple of new members. Canada’s Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara picked up 600 points with their fifth place in Qatar and jumped from 13th to eighth on a new total of 2,868, only 48 points clear of the other new top 10 entry, Taina Bigi and Victoria Lopes of Brazil, who finished ninth at the Doha Challenge and it was enough to rise from 12th to ninth in the World Ranking.

Doha runners-up Sarah Schulz and Chantal Laboureur of Germany moved 15 positions up to number 16, while fourth-placed Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar made a 30-spot leap from 60th to 30th.

FIVB World Ranking – Women

FIVB World Ranking – Men

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