Russia's Ekaterina Karapischenko bump sets the Mikasa for teammate Maria Ushkova during their win over a Canadian team Thursday at the SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships in Porto, Portugal.

Porto, Portugal, July 29, 2010—Playing the first two of three main draw pool play matches Thursday, the world’s best young women’s Beach Volleyball tandems are enjoying the Porto sunshine and the heated competition at the 2010 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships, the ninth annual event for players under 19. Pool play will finish Friday with one match for each of the 24 women’s teams in the double-gender event at the venue, located adjacent to the Edificio Transparente at the Esplanda do Rio de Janeiro. The world championship event runs through Sunday at the sunny seaside Porto event site with the nationally-televised semifinals, bronze and gold medal matches for both genders being played on the event’s final day.

SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships    Girls     Boys
FIVB Beach Volleyball

With 24 teams divided into six four-team pools, seven teams are 2-0 after the first day of pool play. Russia and the United States each have two undefeated teams, while also finishing the day undefeated at the 2010 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships are female teams from Australia, Germany, Spain and the Ukraine.

USA’s Lara Dykstra/Rebecca Strehlow, 24th-seeded main draw and second-seeded qualification team, are tied for the lead in Pool A with Australia’s 13th-seeded Taliqua Clancy/Eliza Hynes as the Americans defeated teams from Portugal and China while the Aussies were also defeating the same teams from China and Portugal.

Third-seeded Americans Jane Croson and Summer Ross, who finished tied for fifth in this event last year in Turkey, lead Pool C outright following their Thursday wins over teams from Austria and Italy. After losing their first set of the tournament, they won in three sets against Austria before defeating Italy’s Giada Benazzi/Sara Lombardi, 21-11 and 21-17 in 26 minutes.

“We really started slow against Austria, got it together, won, and then had a good time against the Italians,” said Ross afterwards.

Russia’s two are seventh-seeded Ekaterina Karapischenko/Maria Ushkova and Ksenia Dabizha/Olga Sorokina, seeded 23rd in the main draw after playing their win into the main draw as the No. 3 qualifier team. Karapischenko, who finished second and third the last two years in this tournament with a different partner and Ushkova, who finished third in this event last year and lead Pool F, went three sets twice to defeat teams from Latvia and Canada while Dabizha/Sorokina are 0-2 so far.

Germany’s second-seeded Anna Behlen/Sandra Seyfferth lead Pool B with wins over teams from Russia and The Netherlands while leading Pool D is Ukraine’s 16th-seeded Olena Bosanova/Valentyna Hyrstvuk after a pair of three-set wins over teams from Poland and Greece. With wins over teams from Austria and Switzerland, Spain’s 17th-seeded Angela Lobato/Paula Soria leads Pool E heading into Friday’s final pool play round.

As the host country, Portugal has three men’s and three women’s teams each pre-seeded into the main draw. The women’s teams representing the host nation are Maria Caseira/Marta Hurst, Ana Rita Maglhaes/Judite Marques and Mariana Alexandre/Joana Neto.  All three teams lost their two matches on Thursday.

The 2010 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships features live video streaming for the first time through the efforts of the Portuguese Volleyball Federation. The direct link for all matches on the featured court during the event is www.fpvoleibol.pt/video.htm.

This year’s international event is being produced by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation under the direction of PVF President Vicente Araújo and tournament director Teaodemiro Carvalho.  The PVF has produced 13 SWATCH FIVB World Tour events in Espinho, Portugal and this is the first time the organization has staged an international world championship event and first time in Porto, the second-largest city in Portugal.

The 2010 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships also features live video streaming for the first time through the efforts of the Portuguese Volleyball Federation. The direct link for all matches on the featured court during the event is www.fpvoleibol.pt/video.htm.

The 2010 Youth U-19 gold medal teams in each gender will be rewarded a “wild card” by the FIVB for a future SWATCH FIVB World Tour event during the final months of the 2010 or in 2011.

A total of 88 teams (46 women’s and 42 men’s) from 32 countries began play Wednesday in Porto at the 2010 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships.

The two semi-finals, bronze and gold medal matches for each gender will be televised live on Sport TV in Portugal. An IMG television crew will also be on-site to produce special segments from both genders to air internationally on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour highlight shows to air later this summer and fall.