31.08.07
BRAZILIAN MEN SEEK 2005 REPEAT IN ST. PETERSBURG
St. Petersburg , Russia , August 31, 2007 -
In appears that the 2007
St. Petersburg Open is headed towards
a finish like the 2005 event on the Neva
River at the Peter-And-Paul Fortress
where four teams from Brazil
secured all four semi-final berths at the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event. But teams from Argentina,
Italy, the Netherlands and host Russia are in position to prevent the eighth
“final four” sweep by the South Americans at a SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event as
the US$400,000 St. Petersburg Open heads into the weekend with the women’s
finale tomorrow followed by the men’s medal matches Sunday.
St. Petersburg , Russia , August 31, 2007 - In appears that the 2007 St. Petersburg Open is headed towards a finish like the 2005 event on the Neva River at the Peter-And-Paul Fortress where four teams from Brazil secured all four semi-final berths at the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event.
But teams from Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands and host Russia are in position to prevent the eighth “final four” sweep by the South Americans at a SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event as the US$400,000 St. Petersburg Open heads into the weekend with the women’s finale tomorrow followed by the men’s medal matches Sunday.
The Beach Volleyball pairs of third-seeded Marcio Araujo/Fabio Magalhaes and fourth-seeded Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado posted semi-final-qualifying wins here Friday afternoon with victories over Brazilian compatriots top-seeded Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos and seventh-seeded Pedro Cunha/Franco Neto, respectively.
Also advancing to Saturday’s opening elimination match schedule to determine the opponents for Marcio Araujo/Fabio and Harley/Salgado are the two Brazilians losers from Friday afternoon along with second-seeded Igor Kolodinsky/Dmitri Barsouk of Russia, fifth-seeded Mariano Baracetti/Martin Conde of Argentina, sixth-seeded Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil of the Netherlands and 23rd-seeded Riccardo Lione/Matteo Varnier of Italy.
Harley and Salgado, who captured their second SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medal this season two weeks ago on the Finnish island of Aland, earned their spot in the semi-finals with a 22-20 and 24-22 win in 67 minutes over Emanuel and Ricardo. The reigning Olympic champions, Emanuel and Ricardo captured the 2005 St. Petersburg Open by defeating Marcio Araujo and Fabio in the finals.
Harley, who was fourth at the 2005 Peter-And-Paul Fortress event with Benjamin Insfran after losing to Franco and Tande Ramos in the bronze medal match, and Salgado earned their first win in four matches this season against Emanuel and Ricardo on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.
Marcio Araujo and Fabio, who captured the 2006 St. Petersburg Open by defeating Germany’s Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann in the finals as Emanuel and Ricardo placed fourth, gained a “final four” berth win a 21-19 and 21-10 win over Cunha and Franco in 48 minutes. It was the 10th SWATCH meeting between the two teams with Marcio Araujo and Fabio snapping a three-match losing streak to their Brazilian rivals to lead the series 6-4.
To gain a spot in their third-straight St. Petersburg Open semi-final, Emanuel and Ricardo will have to defeat the winners of the match between Kolodinsky/Barsouk and Lione/Varnier to earn a “final four” berth opposite of Marcio Araujo and Fabio. Cunha and Franco’s road to a possible “final four” match against Harley and Salgado will start with the winners of the match between Baracetti/Conde and Nummerdor/Schuil.
The 12th of 13 double gender events on the 2007 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour calendar, the St. Petersburg Open the women’s finale Saturday features two-time SWATCH tour champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca against Americans Jen Boss and April Ross. In addition to the $32,000 first-place prize, the women’s winner will also earn 600 points towards qualifying for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
While Saturday’s action concludes the women’s European SWATCH schedule for 2007, the men continue on the continent next week in the Mazury region of Poland for the fourth annual FIVB event in Stare Jablonki at the Hotel Anders. The final double gender event of the season is at the end of next month in Fortaleza, Brazil
