MAIN DRAW UNDERWAY

Camburi Beach/ Vitoria – Espirito Santo – Brazil Date – 29th November 2001 Round – Double- elimination Tournament (1st Day) Weather Conditions – Partly cloudy, 29C (light winds)

The Main Draw featuring 40 matches of the final 2001 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Men's event started today on Camburi Beach, Vitoria, Brazil. Thirty-two pairs played on the first day of the Double-elimination Tournament with sixteen still alive on the second day of the double-elimination tournament.

From Brazil: Emanuel – Tande, Franco - Roberto Lopes, Dulra Jr. - Paulo Emilio, Murilo – Klepper, Ricardo – Loyola, Anjinho – Brazao; from Switzerland:Laciga P. – Laciga M., Kobel – Heuscher; from Germany: Dieckmann M. – Reckermann, Klemperer – Rademacher; Lione – Amore (Italy), Rogers – Scott (USA), Maaseide – Horrem (Norway), Baracetti – Conde (Argentina), Prosser – Zahaner (Austria), Maia – Brenha (Portugal)

Ze Marco - Para is the only Brazilian team that did not make it to last 16 teams. Losing to his country fellows Anjinho and Brazao. was the last match of his long and successful career. His latest big triumph was the silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics together with Ricardo. Ze Marco announced his retirement already yesterday. He is planning to open a volleyball school to pass his experience to the younger generation.

Matches will resume tomorrow, Friday, at 9:00 a.m. here at Camburi Beach, Vitoria.

Quote from Emanuel (Brasil) “Every competition in Brazil is important to us and we will always play it to win. We have an image to live up to. The fact that we are already Champions of the 2001 Beach Volley World Tour puts more responsibility on our shoulders. We want to show the Brazilian crowd what we do abroad”.

Quote from Tande (Brasil) “We are fighters and we are always very concentrated in the game. Some people say we don’t celebrate much the points, but this is our style. We communicate very well inside and outside of the court and this is very important”.

Quote from Baracetti (Argentina) “We didn’t practice for this event because we have been resting since Mallorca. We had only one week to prepare for Vitoria. But, in general, we had a very good season. At least, the third place in the FIVB World Tour Ranking is ours which is excellent considering we have been together for only one year. Our team was formed last year, exactly here in Vitoria.”

Quote from Blanton (USA) “I have been playing with McCaw for only one week. We are both experiment players but we made a lot of mistakes on fundaments today and that made impossible to make play. The serve wasn’t right, the reception wasn’t good enough. But I am glad we came. We were suppose to come last year, but I had to go to a special reception from the president of the USA together with the other American athletes. I am loving Vitoria. It reminds me of my home town, Laguna Beach (CA)”.

Quote from Paul Laciga (Switzerland) “We dint play well on the first game but we found ourselves on the second match. We are happy to pass this first phase of the double-elimination tournament because we didn’t play for 3 months and we had a bit more than 2 weeks to prepare for the Vitoria Open.”

Qualifying Rounds 

Camburi Beach/ Vitoria – Espirito Santo – Brazil 28th Nov 2001 

Round – Qualifying 2nd Day Weather Conditions – Partly Cloudy, 32°C (light winds)

On the second day of the Qualifying tournament for the 2001 Men's World Tour last event, at Camburi Beach in Vitoria, 

Maurizio Pimponi/A. Raffaelli (ITA) , Ahren Cadieux/Everett Matthews (CAN), Malte Homeyer/Drazan Slacanin (GER), Matthew Heath/Gaston Macau (USA), Kais Kr.- Kais Ka (EST), Pedro Brazão/Anjinho (BRA) and Murilo/ Klepper (BRA) have made it into the Main Draw, starting tomorrow (29th November) at 8:30 a.m. 

They will join yesterday’s qualified pairs Peter Gartmayer/Robert Nowotny (Austria) and Dultra Jr./Paulo Emilio Silva (BRA) and the 23 seeded teams. The Swiss Heyer/Egger had to withdraw last minute because Sascha Heyer is sick and he could not travel to Brazil. Another important fact is set to mark the Vitoria Open: It will be the last competition for Olympic Medallist Brazilian Ze Marco, who is retiring from Volleyball.

Quote from Ze Marco (BRA) “Although we have no chance of finishing even on third at the 2001 world ranking, we want to go as far as we can on this Vitoria Open. We are here to win. Besides, my celebration is already set because I am saying farewell from professional volleyball competitions. I intend to open volleyball schools for younger generations”.

Quote from Paul Lacisa (SUI) “It is always difficult to play against the Brazilians, specially at this time of the year when they are on the middle of their national competition and pretty much in Top Shape. But we have been practicing for 3 weeks, including a special participation on the Brazilian Banco do Brasil Circuit last wee. It was fun”.

Quote from Anjinho (BRA) “The fact that we are qualified for the Main Draw has taken a lot of pressure from our shoulders. This is the first time I am playing with Grael (Brazão) and we seemed to have found a very good match. I have a lot of experience and he is young and daring”.

Vitoria – Espirito Santo, Brazil 27 Nov 2001 - Qualifying 1ST Day Weather Conditions – Sunny, 30C (light winds)

The Austrians Peter Gartmayer/Robert Nowotny and the Brazilians Dultra Jr./Paulo Emilio Silva were the first two teams to make it into the Main Draw on the first day of the Qualifying Tournament for the 2001 FIVB Men's World Tour last event, at Camburi Beach in Vitoria. 

The other fourteen teams will start to fight tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. for the last six remaining places for the Main Draw that starts on Thursday, November 29th. Due to the country quota for Brazil only two out of six can still qualify.

Quote from Nowotny (AUT) “We were very pleased with the way we’ve played this afternoon. In the morning wasn’t so good. And we are so happy to qualify”.

Gartmayer (AUT) “We have been playing together for seven years and it is always difficult to play in Brazil because of the hot weather. We arrived a week earlier to prepare for the tournament and to get used to the heat. But the problem was it rained a lot last week, so it is only now that we can really fell it. But the result is good so far”.

Quote from Dultra Jr. (Brazil) “Paulo Emilio is an excellent player and I was happy when he asked me to play with him. Fred, his team mate, got sick and couldn’t come to the tournament. We have trained together few years ago and I believe we are still playing in “tune”. We were also luck to qualify straight away.”

Matches in the Afternoon

Jefferson Bellaguarda/Paulão Moreira (BRA) 2 x 1 Dultra Jr./Paulo Emilio Silva (BRA) Kaarel Kais/Kristjan Kais (Estonia) 1 x 2 Peter Gartmayer/Robert Nowotny (AUT) Pedro Brazão/Anjinho (BRA) x Klepper/Murilo Teixeira (BRA) Luizão Correa/Harley Silva (BRA) 2 x 1 Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran (BRA)

LAST MEN'S EVENT OF 2001

The last event of the 2001 Men's Beach Volleyball World Tour gets underway in Vitoria, Brazil, 27 November.

Featuring 52 teams, and event promises plenty of action offering the teams last chance to move up the competition ladder for their stake in the Bonus Pool.

Entering the men's international season finale, Brazilians Tande and Emanuel, on 3,298 points, have already secured of top team of the 2001 season. Tande, a gold medallist at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games as outside hitter of the dynamic Brazilian volleyball team, and Emanuel are competing together for the first time this season. The pair captured World Tour events in the Canary Islands, Norway, Belgium and Mallorca (Spain) this season.

World Champions Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde (ARG) are second with 2,894 points, followed closely by the Laciga brothers, Martin and Paul, (SUI) on 2,766 points, Jose Loiola and Ricardo Santos (BRA) on 2,260 points and Metzger and Wong (USA), who claimed the Swiss Open in June, ranked fifth with 1,896 points. 

In addition to winning the world championships in Austria, Baracetti and Conde claimed international titles in Italy and France. Loiola, who was born in Vitoria, and Ricardo claimed Gold Medal at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia where they defeated Baracetti and Conde in the finale. Metzger and Wong won the Bronze Medal in Brisbane for the United States.

More coming soon