Shanghai, China, May 1, 2008 - For the first-time since 2003, Mexico made its presence felt at a double gender SWATCH FIVB World Tour event as a men’s and women’s team from the North American country advanced to the Main Draw of this week’s US$350,000 China Shanghai Jinshan Open.
To add to the “special” occurrence, the Mexican women’s team of Bibiana Candelas and Mayra Garcia posted one of the biggest upsets in SWATCH FIVB World Tour history by defeating defending China Shanghai Jinshan Open champions Jia Tian and Jie Wang 24-22 and 21-13 in 37 minutes over the second-seeded Chinese Beach Volleyball tandem.
“This is great for Beach Volleyball development in our country,” said Garcia, who competed in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games with Hilda Gaxiola. “We played well Wednesday in qualifying and defeated a very good and experienced team from Canada to advance to the Main Draw. Today’s opening win is our biggest victory ever. The Chinese are the second-ranked team in the world.”
Also advancing to the men’s Main Draw after a pair of qualifying wins Tuesday were Aldo Miramontes and Juan Virgen, who joined their coach (Salvador Gonzalez) in celebrating Candelas and Garcia’s victory over the Chinese Thursday morning.
Miramontes and Virgen upset teams from Canada and Denmark Tuesday to advance to Wednesday’s opening men’s Main Draw rounds before dropping matches to Beach Volleyball tandems from Switzerland and Portugal to place 25th. Miramontes and Virgen best SWATCH finish in 12 FIVB starts together was a 17th last year in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy, where the Mexicans won four-straight matches before being eliminated.
Outside of FIVB stops in Acapulco in 2005 and 2006, the twin advancements at the same SWATCH site in the same week provided both Mexican teams with valuable points along with prize money during the second of two seasons of qualifying for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The last time a Mexican men’s and women’s team qualified for the Main Draw at the same site in the same week was 2003 when Garcia and Gaxiola earned a women’s “money” round berth in Switzerland before Tomas Hernandez and Juan Rodriguez Ibarra advanced from the men’s qualifier the next day in Gstaad.
“After we failed to qualify in Australia at March’s FIVB event in Adelaide, we returned home to train very hard with our coach,” said the 35-year old Garcia. “Obviously, those sessions paid off as we won over first-ever SWATCH Main Draw match today against a great team bound for the Olympics.”
While Garcia has placed as high as fifth in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour with Gaxiola, Candelas is guaranteed her best-ever finish on the international circuit. Entering today’s action, the Mexicans had a 0-4 Main Draw match mark after qualifying only twice for nine “money” round attempts in 2007.
“This gives us a lot of confidence,” the 24-year old Candelas, who is tallest player (196 cm, 6-foot, 5-inches) in the China Shanghai Jinshan Open. “Now we must validate this success with some more wins this week. It will be difficult as we have never been in this position before. I’m excited for Myra as she has really helped me!”
Seeded 23rd in the 36-team qualifier, Candelas and Garcia defeated 10th-seeded Hana Klapalova/Tereza Petrova of the Czech Republic (21-18, 21-16) and seventh-seeded Marie-Andree Lessard/Sarah Maxwell (21-15, 21-15) to advance to their opening Main Draw match Thursday against Tian and Wang as the 31st-seeded team in the “money” rounds.
It was the second-straight year that Candelas and Garcia have qualified for the China Shanghai Jinshan Open Main Draw as the Mexican women also defeated Lessard and Maxwell in the preliminary rounds enroute to placing 25th in the 2007 SWATCH FIVB World Tour season opener on the Jinshan Beach courts.
With their win, Candelas and Garcia play 18th-seeded Milagros Crespo and Imara Esteves Ribalta as the Cubans advanced to the second-round of the winner’s bracket with a 21-19, 15-21 and 15-12 victory in 56 minutes over 15th-seeded Simone Kuhn and Lea Schwer of Switzerland.
Tian and Wang still can rebound from their first-round defeat, but the Chinese pair must win six-straight elimination matches to reach Saturday’s semi-finals. No women’s team in SWATCH FIVB World Tour has rebounded from a first-round defeat in a double-elimination tournament to claim a gold medal. |
