Press release

London, Great Britain, August 3, 2012 – Being able to look hopefully ahead while the first half of the women’s round of 16 was played, the remaining eight teams meet Saturday to determine the balance of the teams that will move onto the quarterfinals on the road to the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games beach volleyball competition at Horse Guards Parade in central London.

A total 24 women’s beach volleyball teams from 19 countries started playing in London last Saturday in the purpose-built, sold-out 15,000-seat stadium on the grounds of the iconic Horse Guards Parade as the majestic venue also includes a portion of adjacent St. James Park in historic central London.

Four sessions will be held Saturday with two matches in each (one per gender) for the first half of the round of 16 matches with the balance to be played on Saturday. The sessions are scheduled to start Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

With the eight matches split over two days, Saturday’s final half of matches will start in the morning session at 9 a.m. when Russia’s Ekaterina Khomyakova/Evgenia Ukolova challenges China’s Chen Xue/Xi Zhang , 2008 Olympic bronze medalists, in the firset meeting between the teams.

The winner of the Russia vs. China match will meet the winner of Friday night’s late match between Austria’s Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger and Russia’s Anastasia Vasina/Anna Vozakova.

Starting the early afternoon women’s session at 1 p.m. will be Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner meeting Italy’s Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti in a battle between two very passionate and emotional teams. Italy’s Cicolari/Menegatti are ahead in the series with Spain’s Baquerizo/Fernandez, 3-2. In their only meeting so far this year, Italy defeated Spain in Brasilia back in April.

The Spain/Italy winner will move to the quarterfinals to play the winner of the round of 16 match betwen USA’s Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh vs. Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel.

Ending Saturday’s early evening women’s session at 6 p.m. will be Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes facing Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, whom the Brazilians have a 5-0 record against in previous international matches.

The winner of the Brazil/Czech Republic matchup will advance to the quarterfinals to play USA’s Jennifer Kessy/April Ross who eliminated Switzerland’s Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr on Thursday afternoon.

In the evening session, the last match of the day will also be the final women’s round of 16 match at 9 p.m. with USA’s two-time defending Olympic Gold medalists May-Treanor/Walsh playing Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel. USA’s May-Treanor/Walsh are 2-1 in the three matches they have played against Holland’s Keizer/van Iersel.

The winner of the USA/Netherlands’ round of 16 match will move to the quarterfinals to meet the winner of the match between Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Italy’s Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti.

The quarterfinal matches will be held for women on Sunday, August 5 in two sessions with two quarters each, the first starting at 6 p.m. and the second session for the final two quarterfinals starting at 10 p.m.

Current event info and results is available at www.fivb.org.