FIVB官方文章
Women’s Pool Play Nears ConocoPhillips Grand Slam End
Conoco飞利浦大奖赛女沙分组循环赛接近尾声[/COLOR]
STAVANGER, NORWAY, June 29, 2006 - The third-round of pool play for women in US$580,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam will feature three matches here Thursday afternoon where the top two teams in each group have posted 2-0 marks and will be competing for “byes” in Friday’s single-elimination bracket.
挪威斯塔万格2006年6月29日――58万美元京津的Conoco飞利浦大奖赛女沙星期四下午将进行第三次循环赛,有三个组的两队顶尖球队没有悬念将进入周五的单淘汰赛。[/COLOR]
Five other Beach Volleyball tandems are the only unbeaten team in their group entering the final 16 pool play matches to determine the schedule for Friday’s three rounds of elimination games for the second of four “major” stops on the 2006 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour calendar.
另外五个组出线并不明朗。都在努力进入16强,并争取好的位置。[/COLOR]
With the first four women’s SWATCH stops in Italy, Shanghai, Athens and Switzerland featuring double-elimination competition, the pool play/single-elimination format for the fifth annual ConocoPhillips Grand Slam for women was due to the 50 percent increase in Norwegian television coverage to 25 hours to pre-arrange match schedules.
女沙SWATCH前面四站比赛(意大利、上海、雅典和瑞士)均采用双败淘汰赛制。女沙的第五站CONOCO飞利浦大奖赛采用分组循环/单淘汰赛制较之先前的赛制把挪威电视收视率提高了50%。[/COLOR]
After each team plays their three pool play matches, the winners of each group will receive a “bye” in the first- round of single-elimination bracket with the second- and third-ranked tandems in each pool being placed into the opening round bases on match, set and/or point ratios along with a draw.
Six of the top eight-seeded have won their first two pool play matches as expected Thursday, including defending ConocoPhillips Grand Slam fourth-seeded Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vasso Karadassiou of Greece in Pool D. The Greeks defeated Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil for the 2005 Vagen Harbour title for their country’s first-ever SWATCH gold medal.
“I am not in the best of shape to be playing this week,” said Karadassiou before the start of Main Draw action, “but I felt it was important to return here to defend the title with Vicky. It was a wonderful experience for us last year, especially since it was Greece’s first international gold medal. I will never forget that experience here, and hopefully, we have the opportunity to repeat.”
Karadassiou entered this week’s competition with back problems that forced her to forfeit her final match last week in Switzerland where she and Arvaniti placed seventh. “My doctor it Athens recommended more rest,” Karadassiou added, “but I wanted to play here this week. It is a special place with great fans and an excellent tournament structure.”
Two qualifying teams and 23rd-seeded Okka Rau/Stephanie Pohl of Germany are also undefeated in pool play entering the final round of matches. The Germans and 26th-seeded Milagros Crespo/Imara Esteves Ribalta of Cuba have posted a pair of wins each in Pool G and will play for a first-round elimination bye later Thursday.
Leila Barros and Ana Paula Connelly of Brazil, who had to qualify for the Main Draw by winning three preliminary matches, lead Pool H and appear headed for a first-round bye entering their final group match against 24th-seeded Katarzyna Urby and Joanna Wiatr of Poland, the 2004 SWATCH-FIVB U-18 World champions. Ana Paula won the 2003 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam with Sandra Pires.
Other pool play matches where 2-0 teams compete for the first-round bye have top-seeded Juliana/Larissa facing 16th-seeded Xue Chen/Zhang Xi of China (Pool A) and sixth-seeded Natalie Cook/Nicole Anderson of Australia meeting 11th-seeded Dalixia Fernandez Grasset/Tamara Larrea Peraza of Cuba (Pool F).
Joining Arvaniti/Karadassiou and Leila/Ana Paula as sole leaders in their pool are second-seeded Wang Jie/Tian Jia of China (Pool B), third-seeded Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede (Pool C) and fifth-seeded Renata Ribeiro/Talita Antunes of Brazil (Pool E). Tian Jia and her former partner Wang Fei claimed the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam last year by defeating Adriana and Shelda in the third-place match.
The ConocoPhillips Grand Slam also features men’s play where the men started competing in their Main Draw Thursday. The women’s competition concludes Saturday when the final two teams compete for the $42,300 first-place prize. The men’s medal matches will be Sunday.