Mauritius first team to compete in beach volleyball at an Olympic Games, Elodie Li Yuk Lo bumps the Mikasa for Natacha Rigobert, who carried her in country's flag during last Friday's opening ceremony in London were one of eight teams eliminated Thursday

London, Great Britain, August 2, 2012 – Following six spectacular days of round-robin pool play matches and two play-in matches that were completed Thursday night, Big Ben has struck the midnight hour as eight of the original 24 women’s teams will not advance to Friday’s start of the single-elimination rounds in the beach volleyball competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games being held at Horse Guards Parade in central London.

A total of 24 women’s beach volleyball teams from 17 countries have been competing in London since last Saturday and half of them were the last to finish three rounds of pool play Thursday evening 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.

The top two finishers in each pool automatically moved forward, after any ties were broken, to Friday’s start of the single-elimination bracket play for the remaining 16 teams on the way to the London 2012 Olympic Games beach volleyball podium. Additionally, the top two third place teams, again after ties were broken, automatically moved forward.

The other four third place teams played two special play-in games late Thursday night to determine the final two teams for the knockout rounds. The winners advanced to elimination play and the losers eliminated with 17th-place finishes in this year’s Olympic Games.

Four sessions will be held Friday 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.

Losing the play-in matches Thursday night and officially receiving 17th place finishes in London with their won-loss record, sets and manner of qualifying for the Olympic Games were: Great Britain’s Zara Dampney/Shauna Mullin (1-3, 2-7) (Host nation) and Czech Republic’s Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova (1-3, 2-6) (Olympic Ranking)

Modifying the qualification process for this year’s Olympic Games beach volleyball competition from previous years to determine the 24 teams for each gender, a total of 16 teams qualified for the Games through the Olympic Ranking which is based primarily on FIVB SWATCH World Tour standings, with five more joining as winners of the AVC, CAVB, CEV, CSV and NORCECA Continental Cup Finals and two from the World Cup Olympic Qualification Tournament. Great Britain was granted a berth in each gender as hosts.

With their elimination through pool play, these 2012 Olympians will officially receive 19th place finishes along with their match, set records and method of qualifying for this year’s London 2012 Olympic Games: Argentina’s Ana Gallay/Virginia Zonta (0-3, 0-6 in sets) (South American Continental Cup), Australia’s Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer (0-3, 2-6 in sets) (World Tour), Australia’s Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley (0-3, 2-6 in sets) (Asian Continental Cup), Canada’s Marie-Andree Lessard/Annie Martin (0-3, 3-6 in sets) (NORCECA Continental Cup), Greece’s Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani (1-2, 2-5 in sets) (World Tour), Mauritius’ Elodie Li Yuk Lo/Natacha Rigobert (0-3, 0-6 in sets) (African Continental Cup)

The popular sold-out beach volleyball competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games is being held through Aug. 9 in a purpose-built 15,000-set stadium on the grounds of the iconic Horse Guards Parade in central London. For current information, visit www.fivb.org.

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