国际排联官方文章
Marseille 2008 Men's Open
15.07.2008 - 20.07.2008
PRESS RELEASES
Huge Semifinal Wins for Brazil and China in Marseille
MARSEILLE, FRANCE, July 19, 2008 - Teams from Brazil and China won their semifinal matches in the US$350,000 World Series13, and both carry extra importance that extends beyond Marseille. Brazil's Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes won a spirited match against their fellow countrymen that was vital to their bid for playing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The top-seeded Chinese team, Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu, won their semifinal match which will enable them to attempt to collect the first gold medal in the country's history.
Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes entered the tournament with a slim lead in the Olympic qualification standings over Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado, seeded second in Marseille. The two teams met Friday afternoon, with Harley and Salgado winning 21-14, 21-12. But after Marcio Araujo and Fabio recovered to win three straight matches, all which lasted three sets, a rematch was slated in the semifinals.
Unlike in the first meeting between the two teams, everything was clicking for Marcio Araujo and Fabio. Tied 5-5 in the first set, the seventh-seeded team went on a 4-0 run to take control in a 21-17 win. In the second set the two foes were again tied 5-5, but back-to-back blocks by Fabio spurred a 3-0 run. Marcio Araujo and Fabio led 11-8 before closing the match on a 10-6 run that made it 21-14.
"I can't explain how happy I am," an elated but exhausted Marcio Araujo said. "At the end of the match we felt good. The other guys might have been a little nervous. Fabio played real well."
The victory will likely send Marcio Araujo to his second straight Olympics and Fabio to his first. Harley and Salgado had won all three meetings between the teams this season prior to today. The sweep ended a streak of 12 straight men's matches in Marseille that had lasted three sets.
"I can't compare this to last time because 2004 wasn't as difficult. We had qualified the year before," said Marcio, who finished ninth in the Athens Games. "This time was very tough, there was a lot of pressure. It was a fight for three years and to finish on the match on the last tournament is very stressful. But we did it!"
Wu and Xu played a semifinal match against the surprise "final four" team of Stefan Uhmann and Kay Matysik of Germany. Wu and Xu used some big runs to catapult them to the fifth gold medal match in Chinese men's history. Down 13-10 in the first set, the Chinese went on a 5-0 run en route to winning 22-20. In the second set, the Olympic-bound team had three match points, but was unable to put away the determined Germans, who won 27-25. However in the third set, China went on an 8-0 run early to leave little doubt, winning 15-6.
"That was a very tough match, they played very consistent the first two sets," Xu said. "My partner played very well, he was very good at siding out. In the tiebreaker we were concentrating on doing well. This victory gives us much more confidence. We are trying to change the history of beach volleyball in China. We have tried four times in finals and have lost each time. We want to play consistent; teamwork is the most important thing."
Wu and Xu, the first team from China to win a medal on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, now will try to become the first team to win a gold medal. Prior to this season the tandem was 0-3 in semifinal matches, following today's victory they have won all five semifinal matches this season. The duo is 0-4 in gold medal matches however.
The semifinal match for the Germans was the third this tournament against one of the top three seeded teams. They had advanced to their first career "final four" by virtue of a three-set win earlier in the day against Portugal's Jose Pedrosas and Pedro Rosa, 15-21, 21-15, 22-20. The Marseille event is coming on the heels of their worst finish ever, having not advanced out of the qualifier in Paris last month.
The World Series13, the ninth of 16 double-gender events on the 2008 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, features the men's and women's medal matches on Sunday. The winning teams in each gender will share the $28,000 first-place prizes.
微博帐号登录
QQ帐号登录
