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Under 21 Women World Championship 2002 |
| Catania, Italy, 10 - 14 July |
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| Press Releases |
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Press Centre on site:
FIVB
Press Delegate:
Arjen Meijer
Phone: +39 338 4706117
E-Mail: arjen.meijer@freeler.nl
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Surprise new World Junior Champions
Catania, Italy, 14 July 2002 - Spain's Pablo Herrera-Raul Mesa and the Brazilian women's squad Taiana Lima-Juliana Silva are the new FIVB Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Champions after overcoming the Brazilian offence of Pedro Cunha-Adriano Fonseca to take the title in straight sets (21-11, 21-19) here on the beautiful 'La Playa' beach.
In the women's tournament, the Brazilian qualifier Taiana Lima-Juliana Silva defeated the Swiss pair Isabelle Forrer-Melanie Schonenberger in straight sets (21-18, 21-15). Both Herrera-Mesa and Lima-Silva won a wild card for one of the World Tour events this year, and both teams said they appreciated the award.
The conditions were perfect for the finals here on the beach overlooking Mt. Etna volcano, except for a tricky wind blowing across the Center Court.
Herrera and Mesa, runners-up at last years Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Le Lavendou, France took the time before their match to carefully check conditions and it paid off for them. Herrera picked up great points with his spectacular jump serves and their block was near perfect.
"Last year we were second, now we are the champion," Mesa rejoiced immediately after scoring victory on the second match point. "And the great thing about this victory is that the tournament was much, much stronger than last year. We really had to go deep to win some matches and from the quarterfinal, all our matches were very close."
Although it came as no surprise that Brazil was top of the women's competition, Lima-Silva were not favorites. Their strongest team Maria Salgado Rufino-Talita Rocha, was defeated in the semifinals by the Swiss Forrer-Schonenberger, while Lima-Silva fought their way through three difficult qualification matches to make the main draw, and then went on to win seven matches in a row. 'We are so happy with this first major victory', Silva said.
Lima and Silva completely overpowered Forrer-Schonenberger in the final. The Swiss were nevertheless pleased with their second place because Forrer had been ill on the opening day and the doctor had advised her not to play. "But I simply had to play," she said. "Now we reached the final. This is a fantastic result."
The Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships is not the only FIVB junior worldwide event this year. Later in the summer, the Greek beach town of Xylokastro will host the Under 18 World Beach Volleyball Championships from 28 August till 2 September this year.
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Swiss surprise in 'stars of the future' event
Catania, Italy, 13 July 2002 -The FIVB Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships produced more surprises this weekend at this showcase event for the sports future stars when Swiss squad Isabelle Forrer and Melanie Schonenberger's dreams came true when they reached the quarterfinals here at the sunny 'La Playa' beach on the island of Sicily.
The Swiss girls, fourth in their own national ranking, won thee of their pool matches in the preliminary round to advance to the final 16. Then they advanced in style in the next round with a straight sets (21-14, 21-7) victory over Spanish team Patricia Barrio and Ester Rodriguez. They now meet Germans Doreen Engel and Maria Wendisch in the quarterfinals.
"We are doing fine here in Catania, even better than expected," Schonenberger said. "It is great to reach the last eight in this tournament."
Their good result here is some compensation for failing to make the FIVB World Tour Main Draw several weeks ago at their home event in Gstaad. Their result here on the beautiful isle of Sicily is a confidence booster for the young Swiss team, who have made an important decision for their future.
'Starting this winter, we will play only beach volleyball', Schonenberger continued. 'We will go to train in Australia this winter to improve our game.'
Some of the men's qualifying teams are also recording great results. Germans Hannes Ambelang and Manuel Rieke won their match in the 'sweet sixteen' against the promising Chinese squad Zhao-Xu (21-18, 21-11) and Tomass Marnics and Ruslas Sorokins from Latvia, the other qualifier, scared German favourites Matthias Karger and Maarten Lammens in the opening part of the final phase. The Germans bounced back and claimed the 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 17-15) victory, but only after the Latvians won the first set. Karger and Lammens, Germany's best juniors, now face the Dutch twins Richard and Roland Rademaker in the quarterfinals.
Germany and Brazil both have three teams advancing. Brazil dominates the women's event with Maria Salgado Rufino/Talita Rocha and Taiana Lima/Juliana Silva, who had no trouble securing their quarterfinal berths. Brazilians Pedro Cuhna and Adriano Fonseca defeated countrymen Rodrigo de Souza Gomes and Leandro Rocha Cavalcanti Araujo in straight sets (21-9, 21-18) to also advance. Two German teams remain in the men's competition with Karger-Lammens and Ambelang-Rieke, while Engel-Wendisch made the quarterfinals in the women's tournament.
The quarterfinals are due to be played later Sunday, with semifinals and finals on Sunday. As well as the World Championship title, winners will be rewarded with wild card entries for a World Tour event.
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New countries break through in Beach Volleyball
Catania, Italy, 12 July 2002 - The FIVB Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships is definite proof that Beach Volleyball has an international stamp, with favorites like Brazil and Spain making great results here at 'La Playa' beach but newcomers also making their presence felt.
Like, for example, Dutch twins Richard and Roland
Rademaker, busy putting their country on the international Beach Volleyball map. In the opening match, the Dutch duo blew the US team Jared Godinez and Jeffrey Urton off the court in straight sets (21-9, 21-9), then followed it up with a great 2-0 victory in their second match over Italian home crowd favourites Massimiliano Zunino and Alessio Marri (21-15, 21-15). These two wins were enough for the wild card entry to clinch a spot among the 'Sweet 16' finalists of the Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships.
'The last match was not our best performance, but the result is the only thing that counts,' Richard Rademaker said. 'The match against USA was perfect. We have to play at that high level to get through to the top positions,' brother Roland added.
In the women's tournament, a solid overall result by Hungarian Wild Card entry Bernadette and Regina Kiss saw them sail into the Round of 16. The Kiss sisters lost their last pool clash against the Brazilians Taiana Lima and Juliana Silva in straight sets (21-17, 21-12), but clinched the second spot in the preliminary pool D.
The Kiss Sisters are on the verge of breaking into the big time of the international Beach Volleyball scene. They finished at 19th at the 2001 Championships in Le
Lavandou, France, already tried their luck at the World Tour event in
Gstaad, Switzerland, even if they did not manage to advance to the Main Draw.
The most unexpected result of the championships was the victory of the Mozambique women's squad Guilhermina
Cossa/Sifa Quitende in their clash against the Mexicans Sonia Espinoza and Montserrat
Amador. The formation of the leading Beach Volleyball country of Africa defeated the Central American opponent in three sets (21-14, 12-21, 15-12).
Unfortunately the pair from Mozambique did not advance, due to two defeats in the other pool matches.
In the women's event, 15 countries are represented in the final round, with only Brazil with two teams left in the tournament with both Maria Salgado
Rufino/Talita Rocha and Taiana Lima/Juliana Silva safely through the 'sweet sixteen'.
The Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships, the tournament where the winners will receive a wild card for a World Tour event, continues Saturday with the 16 teams single elimination final round. The first round and the quarterfinals are scheduled for that day. The semifinals and finals being played on Sunday 14 July.
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No luck for host country Italy in women's competition
Catania, Italy, 11 July 2002 - Luck escaped the Italian women's teams on the opening day of the Main Draw of the FIVB Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Catania, Italy. Top seed Eleonora Galie and Monica Illuminati were beaten by the Finish qualifiers Erika and Emilia Nystrom, while wild card entry Grazielle Lo Re/Rosaria Casale went out at the hand of Swiss team Isabelle Forrer and Melanie Schonenberger.
Italy is the only country with three teams participating in each gender of the Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships. The best two teams of the host country qualified directly, with third one entering on a wild card.
The Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships is a colourful event, with all continents represented in both genders here on the southern Italian isle of Sicily. Africa is represented by Mozambique in both the men's and women's events. It is the leading African country in Beach Volleyball.
Finland, also a country without a great beach volleyball history, proved on the first day of the Main Draw that this is an up and coming nation in this spectacular sport. The Finish twin sisters Erika and Emilia Nystrom fought their way through the qualification tournament to grab a spot in the main draw.
In the first match of the 24 team Main Draw, the Nystrom sisters drove the host team Eleonora Galie and Monica Illuminati off the court in straight sets (21-13, 21-8). "We were already very happy to get through the qualification," Erika Nystrom said. "Now we even book a victory in the Main Draw."
The Finish players had a great preparation for this event where the future stars of Beach Volleyball stars meet. "We trained for three weeks in Cuba," Emilia Nystrom added. "Then that we played three events in Finland."
Tournament favourites Maria Salgado Rufino and Talita Rocha booked an easy 2-0 victory over Germans Sara Goller and Martina Stein (21-11, 21-19) in their first clash in Pool B.
The men's event will start later Thursday and will conclude on Friday when each team will play two matches.
In the women's event, the single round robin preliminary round will also finish on Friday. The best two teams of each of the six pools then contest the single elimination final round, together with the best four teams ranked third in the preliminary round.
The semifinals and finals of the Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships are scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday 14 July.
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Early upset in opening
qualification
Catania, Italy, 10 July 2002
- Venezuelans Julio Rodriguez and Robinson Castro caused
an early upset in the opening stages of the FIVB Under-21
World Beach Volleyball Championships when they defeated
Brazilian favourites Rodrigo and Leandro.
The start of the qualification tournament was slightly
delayed due to some rain showers, but when the weather
cleared, the crowd was treated to some first class
competition, even if for the Brazilians, it was not the
start they had hoped for, going down to Rodriguez and
Castro 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-11). Castro, who bypassed
traditional volleyball completely and started playing
beach volleyball at the age of twelve, delivered a
tremendous match.
But the team from Venezuela is not the only formation to
add colour and interest to this tournament of future
champions. Andrei Zharykau and Vasili Kurdziuk from
Belarus probably had the longest journey of all the
participants, travelling by car all the way from Minsk to
the most southern part of Italy.
"First it took us 25 hours to get from Belarus to the
north of Italy," Kurdziuk said. "We trained
there a little bit before we went down to Catania. All
together we have been in the car for almost 40
hours." Zharykau added: "Fortunately we had a
driver, but we also drove the car for some hours."
Unfortunately the much-travelled team were beaten in their
first match by Greek pair Konstantinos Tampouratis and
Nikolaos Giannakakos 2-1 (21-18, 21-12).
The qualification concludes on Thursday morning with the
four best men's and women's teams advancing to the Main
Draw when 24 teams of each gender compete for the coveted
title here at the La Playa beach venue.
All continents are represented at the Championship, giving
the future beach volleyball stars a chance to meet their
rivals from all around the world.
The main draw includes Brazilian stars like men's team of
Pedro Henrique Cunha and Adriano Fonseca and their
compatriots in the women's competition, Maria Salgado
Rufino and Talita Rocha. Italy is represented in both
genders with three teams.
Dutch twins Richard and Roland Rademaker were the last
direct entry into the men's Main Draw, while the women's
competition also features some family business with
Bernadette and Regina Kiss of Hungary performing a
"Sister Act" here on this Italian beach.
The single round robin preliminary is played on Thursday
and Friday, while the best 16 teams play single
elimination starting Saturday. The finals in both the
men's competition are scheduled Sunday afternoon and the
winners will be awarded with a wild card for one of the
next World Tour events.
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Future Stars in action at Sicily's first-ever FIVB Beach Volleyball Event
Catania, Italy, 9 July 2002 - Future Beach Volleyball stars start their campaign
for the World Title on Wednesday here on the island of Sicily when the Under-21 WorldChampionships of this spectacular sport gets underway, featuring the best 24 men's and women's teams in the tournament's Main Draw.
Talented young contenders can not only emerge as the world's best in their age group,winners of both genders will also be granted a wild card for one of the FIVB World
Tour events. The Championship is being organized by the Sicilian regional committee
of the Italian Volleyball Federation (FIPAV).
Following the success of the first-ever Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championshipslast year in Le
Lavandou, France the FIVB has welcomed Sicily hosting this year's event.'We want to give the young players the chance to compete at international level',
FIVB Beach Volleyball Co-ordinator Angelo Squeo stated earlier this year.
In Catania, teams from all continents will participate in the championship,
which is open for players born in 1982 or later.
Last year Brazilians dominated the event in France, with Shaylyn and Salgado Rufino
taking the women's title and countrymen Brazilians Sigoli and Cunha securing the men's.
Some of these younger players already have World Tour experience, indeed Brazilian
Maria Clara Salgado was responsible for some great beach volleyball results in the
last weeks in the Italian national circuit.
The championship is being held on the beautiful 'La Playa' beach in
Catania, a city
with about 400,000 inhabitants on this Southern Italian island, where a two-court stadium
seating 2,500 is now ready for action. After the championship the venue will be modified to provide a facility with a centre court facility with the same seating capacity. 'We are working day and night now to prepare this important event,' said Tournament
Director Renato Arena. 'The preparations are going well and I am sure this event will be a success.'
The Qualification phase in both the men's and the women's competition starts on Wednesday
and the four best teams will proceed to the Main Draw, starting on Thursday. Then six pools of four teams (24 teams) will play a round robin format with the top two teams in each pool, plus the best four ranked
third-placed teams (16 teams) will then play off in single elimination for the title.
Matches will be played in morning and evening sessions, starting at 9.00am and 1730pm
respectfully, culminating in the finals on Sunday starting around 1700pm.
Later in the summer, the Greek beach town of Xylokastro will host the Under 18
World Beach Volleyball Championship from 28 August till 2 September this year. |
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