Olympic Semi-Final Rematch Highlights Thursday’s Men's Play at A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam

With men’s and women’s teams from the host country dominating the centre court action at the US$600,000 A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam Presented by Volksbank here Thursday, the thousands of fans watching the side court action on the Metnitzstrand at Lake Wörthersee were treated to one of the best rivalries in the sport featuring Brazilian world champions and Olympic medal winners.

Being grouped together in Pool E, the fifth-seeded Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos faced a challenge in their first match Thursday by Brazilian rivals and 12th-seeded Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes as the Beach Volleyball meeting was the 19th FIVB confrontation between the two teams that faced each other in the semi-finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Like the Beijing result, Marcio Araujo and Fabio prevailed Thursday with a 21-15, 14-21 and 15-13 win in 59 minutes for their eighth FIVB victory over Emanuel and Ricardo since 2005. Earlier this season in the semi-finals at the SWATCH FIVB World Tour season-opening event in Brasilia, Emanuel and Ricardo avenged the Beijing setback with a 17-21, 21-18 and 15-12 win in 58 minutes.

The legendary Brazilian pairs finished A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam play Thursday by winning matches against teams from the Czech Republic and Canada. Like Marcio Araujo and Fabio, the Czech and Canadian tandems had to win two qualifying matches Wednesday to advance to the 32-team Main Draw.

With the 2003 world and 2004 Olympic champions Emanuel and Ricardo receiving a berth in the Main Draw due to their No. 3 ranking SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the 2005 world and 2008 Olympic silver medal winners Marcio Araujo and Fabio have to pull extra duty at most 2009 events by playing in the Brazilian Country Quota playoffs that they won Tuesday for the third-time in five preliminary appearances.

“It is tough being in the same pool with another Brazilian teams, especially with Emanuel and Ricardo,” said the 30-year old Fabio, who became a father recently. “We have so much history with them. In addition to all those FIVB matches, we have played them a lot on the domestic tour. In addition to the physical effort against them, you have to be very sharp mentally. I think this is the earliest we have ever played them in a tournament.”

Fabio was correct about the early FIVB meeting as the two Brazilian teams have faced each other seven times for a SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal and eight times the two pairs have competed against each other in a semi-final match. In past Klagenfurt events, Emanuel and Ricardo won the first two matches in 2006 and 2007 semi-final meetings.

Men’s pool play at the A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam continues Friday morning with the top three finishers in each of the eight pools advancing to the 24-team elimination bracket that starts in the afternoon featuring the No. 2 and 3 placers from the groups playing. The pool winners receive a “bye” to Saturday’s second-round.

With the women’s semi-final and medal matches being played Saturday, the men’s “final four” matches will be staged Sunday when the 13th annual A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam comes to an end. The winning teams share the $43,500 first-place prizes.

The 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour features $7.2-million in prize money and continues through the fall with the men’s final event in China and the women’s last stop in Thailand. Following Klagenfurt, four more double gender events will be staged in August at sites in Poland, Norway, Finland and The Netherlands.

Dmitri Barsouk and Igor Kolodinsky, the defending A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam champions, won both of their matches Thursday as the 13th-seeded Russians defeated teams from France and Austria. The first Russian men’s or women’s team to win a SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal, Barsouk and Kolodinsky challenge fourth-seeded Adrian Gavira Collado and Pablo Herrera of Spain for the Pool D title.