Vitoria, Brazil (February 2nd, 2000) – Today was the first day of the
Brazil Beach Volleyball Women’s Open Main Draw, in Vitoria, the opener
stage of World Tour 2000 and part of the Olympic Qualification process.
The great public in the stands – around 3,000 people – enjoyed watching
five local pairs advancing to the second day of competition.
Shelda/Adriana Behar and Sandra Pires/Adriana Samuel defeated their two
opponents. The main surprise of this FIVB World Tour opener so far was the
two straight victories of the Greek team.

In total, 5 Brazilian teams (2 of them unbeaten), 4 USA teams (3 unbeaten)
are still on the tournament, which made a great performance for both
countries. Together with them a pair from each of the following countries:
Australia, Greece, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and China.

As expected, the three times World Tour Champions (97, 98 and 99),
Shelda/Adriana Behar gave no chance to their opponents. Two matches, two
victories. They beat the Cubans Fernandez Grossat/Larrea Peraza in the
first match of the competition and Xiong/Chi from China and continue in
the winners bracket. ‘We are not tall, so we need to compensate this
situation with a fine variety of attacking options’, explained Shelda.

The other Brazilian team undefeated in the competition is Sandra
Pires/Adriana Samuel (gold and silver medallists respectively in the
Atlanta Olympic Games). They faced the Portuguese tandem Maria Jose/Ana
Cristina and Manser/Goley, from Australia.

For the first time in their career, the Greek team Karadassiou/Sfyri (19th
seeded team in the competition) won their two matches and continue in the
winner’s bracket. ‘We are very happy with this results as it was a first
time for us’, stated Karadassiou. The pair from Greece, passed over the
Germans Schmidt/Staub and US Davis/Jordan, 2nd seeded team in the Main
Draw.

The USA has a great tournament with Masakayan/Youngs, Arce/Fontana and
McPeak/May winning both their matches and Jordan/Davis continuing in the
losers’ bracket.

From the eight teams that advanced to the Main Draw through the
Qualification Tournament only two remain in the competition: the
Brazilian: Magda/Minello and Alexandra/Monica Paludo.

Tomorrow, at 9:00 AM the sixteen teams – 8 in the winners’ bracket and 8
in the loser’s bracket – will continue to fight for the title of the
competition, US$150.000 prize money/bonus pool and the important points
for the Olympic Ranking.