FIVB关于田佳王菲的文章
Top Chinese Team Face Olympic Silver Medallists in Women's Shanghai Jinshan Open
SHANGHAI, CHINA, May 18, 2005 - China's top women's Beach Volleyball team did not disappoint their fans here Wednesday by winning their opening two SWATCH-FIVB World Tour matches in the US$400,000 China Shanghai Jinshan Open.
Olympians Jia Tian and Fei Wang scored wins over teams from Austria and Switzerland to advance to a Thursday morning match against FIVB World Champions (1999 and 2001) and two-time Olympic (2000 and 2004) silver medallists Shelda Bedê and Adriana Behar of Brazil.
The ninth-seeded Jia Tian and Fei Wang will be playing the top-seeded Brazilians for the first-time since September 2003 season when the Chinese defeated Shelda and Adriana 17-21, 22-20, 15-11 in the gold medal match in Milan, Italy. The win marked the second of two-straight SWATCH-FIVB World Tour titles for the Chinese, who won their first gold medal together at Bali in August 2003.
"We are excited about our successes today," said the 23-year old Wang Fei, "and we look forward to playing the Brazilians tomorrow. The highlight of our Beach Volleyball career was defeating Shelda and Adriana in Milan where we had to rally to win. The Brazilians had beaten us three times in 2002, so winning in Italy was special since we defeated beach legends."
Wang Fei was "glad to be playing without a knee brace" since her Olympic chances in Athens last August were hampered by a right knee injury that occurred last year at this time in Japan. "I am feeling better now. After Athens, I took time away from competition to rehab my knee. My off-season training sessions were good. I am excited to be back playing against the world's best teams."
Jia Tian and Fei Wang rank 16th on the all-time FIVB team money list ($230,250). Ninth-place finishers at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Jia Tian and Fei Wang have posted four "final four" finishes in 38 previous internationally events together with 23 top nine placements. Shelda and Adriana are the winningest team in SWATCH-FIVB World Tour history with 32 titles in 89 previous international stops with $1,793,215 in earnings and 74 podium placements.
The Brazilian women posted an 9-1 match mark Wednesday as the teams of second-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa França, fifth-seeded Shaylyn Bedê/Ana Paula Connelly and ninth-seeded Agatha Bedarczuk/Sandra Pires each won two matches to advance to the third-round of the winner's bracket in the double-elimination women's event that concludes Saturday. Renata Ribeiro and Talita Antunes Rocha, who are seeded 13th, split a pair of matches Wednesday. The final two women's teams will competed for the $32,000 first-place prize in the first of 16 women's events on the 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour schedule.
Seventh-seeded Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau of Germany challenge Felisberta Silva and Larissa in the winner's bracket third-round with the victors playing either Bednarczuk/Pires or the Yanchulova sisters (Lina and Petia) of Bulgaria for a spot in Friday's semi-finals. Ana Paula and Shaylyn face 20th-seeded Vasso Karadassiou and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece with the victors playing the Jia Tian/Fei Wang and Shelda/Adriana winner for another "final four" berth.
Sixteen other women's teams will open play Thursday morning with elimination matches. The SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event also features men's competition as China hosts its first-ever mixed gender event. The 32-team men's Main Draw starts Thursday. The men's medal matches will be held Sunday at the Shanghai Jinshan Beach Volleyball Venue.
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