http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2005/beach_page.asp?pg=PRE&TRN=WSTP2005&sm=21
Eight Women's Teams Earn SWATCH-FIVB World Tour Main Draw Berths
（八支女沙队杀入SWATCH－FIVB世界巡回赛正式赛事）
St. Petersburg, Russia, July 5, 2005 - With the backdrop of the historic Hermitage on the shores of the Neva River, the US$400,000 St. Petersburg Open staged the women's Qualification Tournament competition here Tuesday to determine the final eight Beach Volleyball spots in Wednesday's opening Main Draw rounds.
Two teams from both China and Japan joined tandems from Australia, Brazil, Germany and Mexico in earning spots in the 32-team Main Draw where the "money rounds" start Wednesday and conclude Saturday. The last two teams remaining in the double-elimination competition vie for the $32,000 first-place prize and the seventh women's gold medal awarded on the 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.
Advancing for Japan were the teams of sixth-seeded Mika Teru Saiki/Ryo Tokuno and ninth-seeded Eiko Koizumi/Shinako Tanaka as the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour returns to the Peter-and-Paul Fortress where the Beach Volleyball competition for the 1994 Goodwill Games was held. Chinese qualifiers Tuesday were second-seeded Li Ying/Lu Wang of China and 13th-seeded Zhengqing Ren/Wen Feng Lu.
Other teams earning Main Draw berths were top-seeded Renata Ribeiro/Talita Antunes Rocha of Brazil, third-seeded Mayra Garcia/Hilda Gaxiola of Mexico, seventh-seeded Helke Claasen/Atje Röder of Germany, 12th-seeded Tamsin Barnett/Stacey Kloeden of Australia.
The inaugural St. Petersburg Open, the fourth of five-straight mixed gender events on the 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour events in Europe, also held men's country quota matches Tuesday to finalize the bracket for the Qualification Tournament. The men's Main Draw starts Thursday and ends Sunday with the medal matches.
More than 1,000 tons of sand is being used for the six competition courts at the Peter-and-Paul Fortress where the featured arena seats more than 4,000 spectators in "a city of haunting magnificence." The event is also sixth men's on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour this season.
Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil, the top-ranked team on the women's SWATCH-FIVB Tour, will be attempting to reach their seventh-straight gold medal match this season in as many tries after posting three first- and three second-place finishes on the 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.
After winning three of the first four events in China, Italy and Switzerland, Juliana and Larissa have placed second the last two week's at the SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Berlin (June 25) and the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Saturday.
Also competing in the women's Main Draw is the Polish team of Katarzyna Urban and Joanna Wiatr, who qualified for the event after winning last season's SWATCH-FIVB World Championship for players under the age of 18. The two girls were 16 when they won the U-18 last September in Termoli, Italy.
Urban and Wiatr upset Barbara Figueiredo and Carolina Solberg Salgado of Brazil in the U-18 finals. Solberg Salgado, who is also 17, finished fifth with her sister (Maria) last week in the SWATCH stop in Norway as the Brazilians failed to advance from their country quota playoff Monday after losing to Ribeiro and Antunes Rocha.
Following this week's event at the Peter-and-Paul Fortress, the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour continues in Europe with stops in Portugal (July 12-17), Poland (July 20-24), France (July 26-31) and Austria (August 2-7). After two weeks off in the middle of August, the international circuit resumes with an event in Canada (August 24-28) before returning to the site of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens (August 30-September 4).
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