Beijing, China, August 14, 2008 - The “ABCs” of women’s Beach Volleyball were back at it here Thursday at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground as pairs from Brazil, China and the United States captured the final three pool titles at the at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The teams of fourth-seeded Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China (Pool D) and sixth-seeded Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro of Brazil (Pool F) joined second-seeded and reigning Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States (Pool B) in completing the preliminary phase of the competition with 3-0 match marks each. The last two preliminary phase matches were played late Thursday for teams from Belgium, Georgia, Mexico and Norway as the two “Lucky Loser” confrontations set the field for the 16-team single-elimination bracket to be played Friday at the Chaoyang Park. Following the “Lucky Loser” matches, the pairings for the “opening” single-elimination round were announced. The women’s quarter-finals will be held Sunday followed by the semi-finals Tuesday and the medal matches next Thursday (August 21). Thirteenth-seeded Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam of Belgium eliminated Cristine "Saka" Santanna/Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins of Georgia 21-13 and 21-19 while 11th-seeded Nila Ann Hakedal/Ingrid Torlen of Norway ousted 19th-seeded Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia of Mexico 20-22, 21-12 and 15-11. The Norwegians will challenge top-seeded Jia Tian/Jie Wang of China while Mouha and Van Breedam play May-Treanor/Walsh in the first-round of elimination bracket. May-Treanor and Walsh finished pool play with a 21-12 and 21-15 win in 35 minutes over Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen of Norway. The Americans have now won 10-straight Olympic matches while increasing their FIVB winning streak to 65 victories since losing to Tian and Wang at June 2007 event in Stavanger, Norway. The 19-year old Xue, the youngest player in Beach Volleyball competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, ended group play Thursday with a 21-13 and 21-9 win in 31 minutes over Judith Augoustides and Vitalina Nel of South Africa. Talita and Renata advanced to the next phase of the competition with a 22-20 and 21-19 win in 42 minutes over seventh-seeded Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vasso (Karadassiou) Karantasiou of Greece. Two-time European champions and 10th-ranked team on the women’s 2008 FIVB tour, Arvaniti and Karantasiou are the highest seeded team to be eliminated from the competition to date. Winning pools Wednesday were Tian/Wang, 10th-seeded Tamsin Barnett/Natalie Cook of Australia (Pool C) and fifth-seeded Nicole Branagh/Elaine Youngs of the United States. Barnett and Cook upset third-seeded Ana Paula Connelly and Larissa Franca of Brazil 23-21 and 23-21 to take over the third-seed in the elimination bracket. | |
