FIVB文章
China’s Tian Jia & Wang Jie Capture A1 Grand Slam Gold Medal
[COLOR="Red"]中国田佳和王洁摘取A1大奖赛金牌 [/COLOR]
Klagenfurt, Austria, August 5, 2006 - Highlighted by wins over Olympic, World and SWATCH-FIVB World Tour champions, China’s Tian Jia and Wang Jie captured their first international Beach Volleyball gold medal here Saturday before a jam-packed Lake Woerthersee centre court crowd of nearly 8,000 fans.
With their 20-22, 21-16 and 15-11 win in 56 minutes over top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil, the fifth-seeded Tian Jia and Wang Jie became the second team from China to capture a SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medal this season.
Enroute to sharing the top spot on the podium for the US$580,000 A1 Grand Slam and the $42,300 first-place prize, the 25-year old Tian Jia and the 21-year old Wang Jie defeated reigning Olympic and World champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States Friday to qualify for the “final four” matches before downing the Brazilians, the top-ranked team on the 2006 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.
“This is great,” said Tian Jia, a two-time Chinese Beach Volleyball Olympian. “Of my three SWATCH gold medal wins, this is the best by far. Outside of winning an Olympic or World championship title, capturing a grand slam gold medal is special. This is a great venue and I am glad to be a part of the ceremonies as member of the winning team.”
Tian Jian, who won two SWATCH gold medals in 2003 with her Athens Olympic partner Wang Fei, earned a spot on the A1 Grand Slam podium for the second-straight year. Americans May-Treanor/Walsh and Rachel Wacholder/Elaine Youngs occupied the top two spots on the 2005 A1 Grand Slam podium with Tian Jia and Wang Fei capturing their seventh and final medal together with a third-place finish.
With five medals in 10 SWATCH starts together this season, Tian Jia and Wang Jie’s victory helped ease the “hurt” from losing the title match in China this past May. The 17-year old Xue Chen and 21-year old Zhang Xi upset their Chinese rivals for the Shanghai gold medal.
“The defeat still hurts,” said Tian Jia, who was named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the A1 Grand Slam. “Chen and Xi played great that day. Since I am the most experienced Beach Volleyball player in our country, everyone though we would win easily. That was not the case as our rivals defeated us (23-21 and 21-14) soundly. Anyway, we won today to help ease the hurt, but I will not forget that match.”
Juliana and Larissa, who shared the $28,300 second-place prize, entered the title match with a 3-0 mark against the Chinese with all three wins in three sets. One of the Brazilian wins over Tian Jia and Wang Jie was an 85-minute semi-final victory in Switzerland last month (18-21, 30-28 and 16-14). The Chinese also lost to May-Treanor and Walsh (21-17 and 21-17) in a Swiss Alps’ winner’s bracket match.
Tian Jia and Wang Jie advanced to gold medal match with a 21-10 and 21-16 win in 40 minutes over 12th-seeded Vasso Karadassiou and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece. The semi-final win avenged an earlier setback to the Greeks in the sixth A1 Grand Slam for women when Tian Jia and Wang Jie dropped a 22-24, 21-18 and 16-14 decision Thursday to Karadassiou and Arvaniti in pool play.
Juliana and Larissa, who are now 12-10 mark in SWATCH title matches since forming their partnership at the start of the 2004 season, gained their 28th international medal in 35 starts with a 21-18 and 23-21 semi-final win over 14th-seeded Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau of Germany.
In the bronze medal match, Pohl and Rau earned their second podium finish in 60 SWATCH starts together by defeating Karadassiou and Arvaniti 21-19 and 21-15 in 42 minutes. Pohl and Rau shared the $22,100 third-place prize while the Greeks left the Lake Woerthersee centre court with $17,700 for their first “final four” finish this season.
The seventh of seven-straight double gender events on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, the men’s Main Draw featured two elimination rounds Saturday to determine the lineup for Sunday’s semi-finals and medal matches.
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