Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5, 2016 - #10 Seed, Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland plays #15 seed Fan Wang/Yuan Yue in the first Pool C match of the opening round with all four players making their Olympic Games debut.
Head to Head
Forrer/Verge-Depre have won the two previous meeting on the FIVB World Tour in 2014 and 2015. The first meeting at the 2014 Klagenfurt Grand Slam was a forfeit due to injury in pool play and the second was a 21-14 and 21-17 win by the Swiss in 32 minutes at the Olsztyn Grand Slam in August, 2015. The Chinese duo defeated Isabelle and Anouk in the Continental Cup Finals in 2012 to determine the final entries in the London Olympic Games. Wang/Yue won 21-15 and 22-20 in 37 minutes as the two countries met in pool play and then won the golden set 18-16 in 14 minutes to give China a 3-2 win.
Historically the #10 seed has won the last three of the four meetings in the Olympic Games, with all needing a third set to decide the winner. Two of those matches featured lopsided first set wins with Australia's Tamsin Hinchley/Natalie Cook defeating Russia's Alexandra Moiseeva/Natalya Uryadova in Beijing (2008), 21-8, 19-21, and 15-12 in 55 minutes and the Czech Republic's Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova recovering from a 8-21 opening set loss to defeat Austria's Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger, 21-13 and 15-13 in London (2012). The 15th seeds only win was in Sydney (2000) when France's Anabelle Prawerman/Cecile Rigaux upset Maike Friedrichsen/Danja Musch of Germany, 16-14 in one hour 47 minutes, the second longest women's match in Olympic Games history.
Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland, Seed #10, Pool C, Qualified 12th with 4,640 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Isabelle: March 28, 1982 (34y4m9d), 178 cm (5'10"), 64 kg (142 lbs.), Hometown St. Gallen, 116th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 33rd), one gold medal, $199,975 career winnings (ranks 90th)
• Anouk: February 11, 1992 (24y5m26d), 185 cm (6'1"), 69 kg (153 lbs.), Hometown Bern, 58th FIVB World Tour event, one gold medal, $161,825 career winnings
• Isabelle and Anouk have been playing together since 2011. They are playing in their 58th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 38th), one gold medal, $323,650 career winnings (ranks 52nd).
• Isabelle has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with one gold, one silver, one bronze medal and two 4th place finishes.
• Anouk has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with one gold, one silver, one bronze medal and two 4th place finishes.
• Isabelle and Anouk have played in five Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Sochi Open 2015, Bronze Xiamen Open 2015, 4th Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam 2016, Gold Xiamen Open 2016, 4th Fuzhou Open 2016).
• Isabelle and Anouk finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki) and 17th in 2015 (The Hague).
• Isabelle finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Sarah Schmocker in 2009 (Stavanger).
• Isabelle and Anouk are currently ranked 8th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 4,110 points and 11th in winnings with $97,700.
• Isabelle and Anouk have a career 122-123 (49.8%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 76-53 (58.9%) record in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period.
• Isabelle and Anouk won one gold medal and two silver medals on the European (CEV) Continental Tour from 2012-15.
• Isabelle won the silver medal at the U21 World Championships with Melanie Schonenberger in 2002 (Catania, Italy).
• Anouk won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Nina Betschart in 2012 (Halifax, Canada).
Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China, Seed #15, Pool C, Qualified 17th with 4,150 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Fan: January 27, 1994 (22y6m10d), 188 cm (6'2"), 73 kg (162 lbs.), Hometown Hebei, 64th FIVB World Tour event, $176,362 career winnings (ranks 100th)
• Yuan: July 23, 1987 (29y0m14d), 184 cm (6'0"), 70 kg (155 lbs.), Hometown Weifang, Shandong, 82nd FIVB World Tour event (ranks 88th), $226,312 career winnings (ranks 76th)
• Fan Wang and Yuan Yue have been playing together since 2012. They are playing in their 42nd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 70th), $329,675 career winnings (ranks 50th).
• Fan has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with two silver medals and three 4th place finishes.
• Yuan has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with two silver medals and three 4th place finishes.
• Fan and Yuan have played in two Final Fours in 2015-2016 (4th Fuzhou Open 2015, 4th Moscow Grand Slam 2015).
• Fan and Yuan finished 5th in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Yuan finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Ying Huang in 2011 (Rome).
• Fan and Yuan are currently ranked 29th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,460 points and 28th in winnings with $48,375.
• Fan and Yuan have a career 103-85 (54.8%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 58-53 (52.3%) record in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period.
• Yuan won the bronze medal at the Asian (AVC) Continental Championships in 2012 (China) and the gold medal in 2013 (China), both with with Yuanyuan Ma.