German women advance to set Qualifying field for Brasilia Open

Germany's Stefanie Huttermann digs the Mikasa to teammate Anni Schumacher as the team advanced from the Country Quota Monday to the Women's Qualification Tournament at the Brasila Open.

BRASILIA, BRAZIL, With a country quota match between two German teams, the final field for Tuesday’s women’s qualification tournament was set for the Brasília Open, the season-opening event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour professional beach volleyball calendar.

For the 24th-straight year, Brazil is the location of an international Beach Volleyball event as the capital city of the South American country is welcoming nearly 140 men and women’s teams from 36 countries. This event is the 244th men’s and 203rd women’s competition in the history of the world tour.

The Esplanada dos Ministérios in Brasília is the site for the US$380,000 Brasília Open as the Brazilian capital is hosting a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event for the second-season after host country teams won the inaugural Brasilia gold medals in 2009 with title performances by Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos and Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca.  Emanuel and Ricardo will be playing with different partners while Juliana and Larissa return for their seventh straight season together.

The Brasília Open Country quota playoff match was held Monday for women and will be held Tuesday for men.  On Monday, Germany’s Stefanie Huttermann and Anni Schumacher defeated fellow German’s Rieke Brink-Abeler and Angeline Grun, in three sets, 21-18, 24-26 and 15-11 in 64 minutes to advance to Tuesday’s women’s qualification tournament.  Germany will have three teams in the qualification tournament.

Taking three days to get to Brasilia because of the weather-cancelled flights in most of Europe, the 24-year old Huttermann, and the 21-year old Schumacher, earned their first spot in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour qualification tournament with a victory over Brink-Abeler, a nine-year veteran of the world tour and Grun, a two-time German Volleyball Olympian and nine-time German Volleyball Player of the year who was making her beach volleyball debut in Brasilia.

“We are very happy to win this match,” said Huttermann. “Both teams played well, which made the match very tight. This is our second time playing in a country quota and we are very excited to be able to play in Brazil for our first SWATCH FIVB World Tour Qualification Tournament.”

Brazil was also expected to have a country quota match to determine the final Brazilian team in the women’s main draw but the team of Vivian Cunha, who won the Brazilian SWATCH tour stop in 2008 with Larissa, and Barbara Seixas were a late withdrawal from the competition.

Vivian and Seixas had originally been awarded a wild card into the main draw and will be replaced by the sister team of Brazilian Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara). Brazil will also have three additional teams in Tuesday’s women’s Qualification Tournament.

The Main Draw rounds start Wednesday for women and Thursday for men as the Beach Volleyball teams march into the weekend seeking the $30,000 first-place prizes for each gender.  The medal matches will be held Saturday for women and Sunday for men.

With the Brazilian capital celebrating its 50th anniversary this week, crowds exceeding 1-million are expected to attend various holiday activities on the Esplanada dos Ministérios in Brasília this week, especially during the Wednesday’s anniversary celebrations which feature the SWATCH event.

After the Brasília stop, the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar continues with a double gender open event in the China (Shanghai, May 3-9) and the first SWATCH Grand Slam tournament of the year in Italy (Rome, May 17-23) before single gender events May 25-30 in Korea (women, Seoul) and Poland (men, Myslowice).  After a week’s break, the international Beach Volleyball tour resumes with the second SWATCH Grand Slam stop in Moscow (June 7-14).