|
Diane
Pascua and Heidi Illustre boosted their chances of
representing the Philippines in the Olympics as the
Filipino-American duo toppled the fifth-seeded
Australian pair of Tamsin Barnett and Nathalie Cook,
20-22, 21-16, 15-13, in the opening round of the 2007
World Beach Volleyball Championships Tuesday in Gstaad,
Switzerland.
This is
the first time the Philippines is entered in the
topnotch tournament, and Pascua and Illustre are making
the most out of it, pulling the rug from under the
seeded tandem which won the gold medal in the World Tour
stop in Seoul last May.
“Very
impressive,” blurted Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF)
secretary-general Rustico Camangian upon learning of the
victory. “Diane and Heidi are playing their best beach
volleyball right now, and we at the PVF are hoping and
keeping our fingers crossed that they would continue to
play that way at least until they secure an Olympic
slot.”
The top
24 teams in the weeklong competition will earn berths in
the 2008 Beijing Games.
Pascua
and Illustre made it to the tournament after placing
44th in the world ranking, a feat they gained by
participating in six legs of the World Tour, which was
highlighted by their 17th-place finish in Montreal. They
are the only Southeast Asian pair in the 48-team main
draw.
Their
victory was the biggest of the upsets recorded on
opening day, which also saw women’s No. 8 duo of
Brazil’s Leila and Ana Paula bowing to Norways’s Nila
Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen in straight sets, 21-17,
21-14, and men’s No. 6 Dimitri Barsuk and Igor
Kolodinski of Russia succumbing to Michal Biza and
Martin Lebl of the Czech Republic, 21-19, 21-19.
Women’s
top-seeds Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of the
United States opened their title bid with a 21-12, 21-11
demolition of South Africa’s Judith Augoustides and
Leigh-Ann Naidoo.
Second
seeds Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta da Silva of
Brazil defeated Annik Skrivan and Nadine Zumkehr of
Switzerland, 21-17, 21-11, while No. 3 Jia Tian and Jie
Wang of China won over Belgium’s Liesbet van Breedam and
Liesbeth Mouha, 21-16, 29-27, and No. 4 Chen Xue and Xi
Zhang, also of China, trounced the Czech Republic’s Eva
Celbova and Tereza Petrova, 21-15, 21-9.
Sixth
seeds Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany outlasted
Giulia Momori and Daniela Gioria of Italy, 18-21, 21-17,
18-16, while No. 7 Adriana Behar and Shelda of Brazil
thumped Alexandra Schirjajeva and Natalja Urjadova of
Russia, 21-17, 21-16, No. 9 Nicole Branagh and Elaine
Youngs of the USA beat Dana Cooke and Annie Martin of
Canada, 14-21, 21-19, 15-11, and No. 10 Vasso
Karadassiou and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece dumped
Andrezza Martins and Cristine Santanna of Georgia,
22-20, 21-19.
In the
men’s division, top-seed Ricardo and Emanuel of Brazil
whacked Casey Augoustides and Patrick Flisberg of South
Africa , 21-16, 21-12; no. 2 Franco and Cunha, also of
Brazil blasted Roman Arkajev and Alexander Kuzmitschev
of Russia, 21-18, 21-15; no. 3 Fabio Luiz and Marcio
Araujo, another Brazilian tandem, defeated Jason
Lochhead and Kirk Pitman of New Zealand, 21-16, 21-19;
no. 4 Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the USA nipped
Philip Gabathuler and David Wenger of Switzerland,
21-12, 21-15.
Fifth-seed Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann of
Germany beat compatriots Florian Huth and Kjell
Schneider, 21-16, 21-19; no. 7 Sascha Heyer and Patrick
Heuscher of Switzerland outpointed countrymen Marcel
Gscheidle and Jan Schnider, 21-14, 19-21, 15-12; no. 8
Harley and Pedro of Brazil downed Franscico Alvarez and
Leonel Munder of Cuba, 21-14, 21-17; no. 9 Linyin Xu and
Penggen Wu of China beat Guilherm Deulofeu and Yannick
Salvetti of France, 21-19, 21-15; and no. 10 Mike
Lambert and Stein Metzger of the USA defeated Bjorn
Maaseide and Iver Horrem of Norway, 21-18, 17-21, 15-7.
(With AP) |
