Beijing, China, May 8, 2012 – Pedro Solberg Salgado and Marcio Henrique Barroso Araujo advanced to the qualification round of the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour Beijing Grand Slam with a hard-fought win over Brazilian compatriots Harley Marques Silva/Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Tuesday afternoon.
It took Pedro/Marcio Araujo 48 minutes to claim the 28-16, 21-16 country-quota victory against Harley/Evandro, 21-18, 21-18 winners over Rhooney de Oliveira Ferramenta/Thiago Santos Barbosa in another country-quota match earlier on Tuesday.
“It’s very important for us to win this match and a berth in the qualification tournament,” said Marcio Araujo. “We are very happy to win and we hope to continue with our good shape in the rest of the tournament.”
“Everyone in this tournament wants to go to London. It won’t be easy, but we will try our best,” he added.
The Chinese capital is welcoming back international beach volleyball for the second straight year since the 2008 Olympic Games and the $600,000 Beijing Grand Slam is the fourth event on the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour for both men and women.
With the battle for spots at the London Olympics gaining more momentum, USA’s reigning Olympic champions Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and May-Treanor/Walsh are leading their respective genders back to Beijing’s Olympic Stadium for the second of a FIVB-record eight grand slam events on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour.
All podium finishers in each gender from last year are returning to the Chaoyang Park for this week’s Grand Slam. For the men also in China besides Brazil’s Alison/Emanuel are last year’s silver medal winners Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann of Germany and Switzerland’s Jefferson Bellaguarda/Patrick Heuscher. While the other teams are intact, Brink is scheduled to play this year’s tournament with Sebastian Fuchs.
Joining USA’s defending champions May-Treanor/Walsh on the women’s side will be last year’s silver medal winners Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany and USA’s bronze medalists Jennifer Kessy/April Ross.
The men’s qualification tournament is set for Wednesday with the women’s Main Draw to kick off on the same day.
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