The Hague, Netherlands, August 28, 2010 - Beach Volleyball powers Brazil and the United States will compete for another men’s gold medal on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour as the US$380,000 Milner Open concludes here Sunday for the last of 12 double gender events on the international calendar in 2010.

The 2010 men’s SWATCH finale will pit eighth-seeded Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil and 21st-seeded Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong of the United States in the 48th FIVB gold medal meeting between the two countries in the 24-year history of the international circuit that began on the beaches in Rio de Janeiro in 1987.

Brazil holds a 24-23 edge in the men’s SWATCH gold medal series with the United States. But due to the efforts of reigning Olympic champions Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, the Americans have won the last six meetings over the South Americans with five being posted this season.

Dalhausser and Rogers started the streak at the 2009 Austrian Grand Slam in Klagenfurt followed by 2010 gold medal wins over the Brazilians in Brasilia, Rome, Prague, Kristiansand (Norway) and Mariehamn (Finland). The last Brazilian gold medal victory over the USA was by Alison Cerutti and Harley Marques at the 2009 Polish Open in Myslowice over Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings.

Benjamin and Bruno rebounded from a Friday afternoon setback to Jennings and Wong to post a pair of wins Saturday starting with a 21-14 and 23-21 victory in 50 minutes over 15th-seeded Anders Lund Hoyer and Bo Soderberg of Denmark. The Brazilians ended the day with a 21-13 and 29-27 semi-final win in 54 minutes over 10th-seeded Emiel Boersma and Daan Spijkers of The Netherlands.

The Milner Open finale will be the first gold medal match for the Benjamin/Bruno partnership as the Brazilians placed third in the season opening event in Brasilia for their best 2010 finish together. An Athens 2004 Beach Volleyball Olympian for Brazil, Benjamin will be participating in his 20th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal match with his third different partner.

Benjamin has 10 SWATCH gold medals to his credit with his last being with Pedro Salgado last season in Stare Jablonki, Poland. Benjamin was 7-7 in SWATCH finales with his Athens Olympic partner Marcio Araujo along with being 2-2 with Harley Marques, who is now playing with Salgado.

Bruno’s only gold medal appearance was with Joao Maciel at a 2008 SWATCH stop in Norway where the Brazilians lost the Kristiansand finale to Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Raul Mesa. The nephew of legendary Brazilian basketball player Oscar Schmidt, Bruno teamed with Salgado to win the 2006 FIVB world championship for players under the age of 21 in Myslowice, Poland.

Jennings and Wong advanced to the Sunday’s gold medal by posting a 21-16 and 24-22 win in 44 minutes over top-seeded Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena in an All-American semi-final. Jennings will be playing in his second SWATCH finale while Wong has a 2-3 title match record with his last appearance being at the 2003 Austrian Grand Slam with Stein Metzger.

Fuerbringer and Lucena had to win three elimination matches to reach their second semi-final this season with the first appearance resulting in a silver medal after losing to Dalhausser and Rogers in the Austrian finale. After ousting a team from Switzerland Friday afternoon, Fuerbringer and Lucena posted wins Saturday over 13th-seeded Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr of Norway (21-15 and 21-12, 37 minutes) and 22nd-seeded Matteo Ingrosso and Matteo Martino of Italy (23-21 and 21-17, 37).