Canada's Martin Reader, left, blocks the Mikasa kill attempt by Great Britain's John Garcia-Thompson as Reader and Josh Binstock defeated Garcia-Thompson/Steve Grotowski in two sets during Saturday's second session at the Olympic Games.

London, Great Britain, July 28, 2012 – Brazil’s top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca opened their London 2012 Olympic Games women’s beach volleyball competion Saturday late afternoon, concluded the second of three four-match sessions in a sold-out, purpose-built 15,000-seat stadium at the iconic Horse Guards Parade in central London with an impressive straight set victory over Maritius‘ 24th-seeded Elodie Li Yuk Lo/Natacha Rigobert.

Displaying the form, focus and talent that has made them the most feared team in women’s beach volleyball, Brazil’s six-time FIVB SWATCH World Tour champions and 2011 FIVB SWATCH World Champions Juliana/Larissa overpowered Mauritius‘ 24th-seeded Elodie Li Yuk Lo/Natacha Rigobert in straight sets, 21-5, 21-10 in 30 minutes.

Looking at the men’s side in session two, the host-country fans were disappointed by Canada’s 19th-seeded Josh Binstock/Martin Reader two-set 21-19, 21-13 victory over Great Britain’s sixth-seeded John Garcia-Thompson/Steve Grotowski, although Canada did have a few thousdand fans in the packed stadium

Improving to 2-0 all-time against Mauritius‘ Li Yuk Lo/Rigobert, Brazil’s talented Juliana/Larissa played a typically powerful match, with both players recording three aces each, Juliana adding 18 kills and nine digs and Larissa contributing 8 kills, one block, 11 assists and as a pair they only had four hitting errors in the match.

In her first Olympic Games after missing in 2008 after qualifying with Larissa, but injuring her knee, Juliana said after her match, “It was great. I played well and I didn’t worry about our opponents. We treat every match as if it is the final. In our next pool play match on Monday we play Germany and they are tough opponents, but we don’t think our worry about our opponents. I’m so excited to be here in my first Olympic Games, my heart was a little wiggly when I went out to the court with all those people there and remember that this is the Olympics. My eyes watered a little because of my injury in 2008. I have come back and I am a new player, a different person and I am looking forward to this entire experience .”

In one of the exciting men’s matches held in session two between two teams who had never met before, Canada’s Binstock had one ace, 11 kills and 12 digs while Reader contributed 5 aces, 14 kills, one block and nine digs.  For Great Britain, Garcia-Thompson had two aces, nine kills and seven digs while Grotowski had 12 kills, one block and three digs.

Binstock said after his team’s first Olympic victory, “It’s hard because they are great people and we like them as friends. It can help to creative motivation when you don’t like your opponents, but that was not the case.  They are stand-up class acts and we didn’t like disappointing their home-country fans, but we really appreciated all the supports from all the Canadians who were in the crowd.”