Brits, Norwegians & Poles Claim PAF Open Women’s Main Draw Berths

Seed-break-throughs for women’s Beach Volleyball pairs from Great Britain, Norway and Poland highlighted Qualification Tournament play here Tuesday at the US$380,000 PAF Open as the SWATCH FIVB World Tour returns to the Finnish isle of Åland.

With the resort city hosting the international Beach Volleyball community for the second-time after taking a break last season due to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Tuesday’s 32-team qualifier advanced eight teams to Wednesday’s opening Main Draw rounds where the format features double-elimination competition.

The men’s PAF Open qualifier will be Wednesday followed by the opening “money” rounds Thursday. Following the women’s medal matches Saturday, the men’s podium placement will be determined Sunday as the winning teams at the 12th SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop in 2009 will share the $30,000 first-place prizes.

Posting wins over higher-seeded pairs to advance to Wednesday’s women’s schedule were ninth-seeded Kathrine Maaseide/Janne Kongshavn of Norway, 11th-seeded Denise Johns/Lucy Boulton of Great Britain and 12th-seeded Karolina Sowala/Monika Brzostek of Poland.

Maaseide and Kongshavn advanced from a SWATCH qualifier for the first-time in three attempts this season with a 21-13 and 29-27 victory in 43 minutes over eighth-seeded Stine Andreasen and Lotte Vestergaard of Denmark. The Polish pair is now two-for-four in qualifying efforts after advancing with a 23-25, 21-16 and 15-12 win in 53 minutes over fifth-seeded Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin of Great Britain.

After watching their compatriots being eliminated by Sowala and Brzostek, Johns and Boulton advanced with a 21-13 and 21-18 win in 32 minutes over sixth-seeded Maria Bratkova and Evgenia Ukolova of Russia. The Brits snapped a string of three failed bids for FIVB Main Draws in Austria, Poland and Norway and are now four for nine this season in qualifying efforts.

Leading the expected PAF Open qualifiers were top-seeded Vanilda Leão and Renata Ribeiro as the Brazilians have won three matches enroute to the “money” rounds, including a Country Quota playoff match Monday followed by victories Tuesday over pairs from Sweden and France.

Other teams protecting their PAF Open qualifying placement were second-seeded Okka Rau/Stephanie Pohl of Germany, third-seeded Inguna Minusa/Inese Jursone of Latvia, fourth-seeded Anastasia Vasina/Galina Boyko of Russia and seventh-seeded Anna Scarlett/ Susan Blundell of New Zealand. For Minusa, Tuesday's win was a belated birthday gift as she celebrated No. 32 Monday.

Host Finland will have two pairs in Wednesday's opening PAF Open Main Draw rounds, including the Nystrom twins (Emilia and Erika) and Kirsi Hyttinen and Merja Korhonen. Neighboring country Sweden will also have a pair of tandems in PAF Open "money" rounds, including Angelica Ljungquist/Karin Lundqvist and Tora Hansson/Camilla Nilsson.

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 the PAF Open, one more double gender event remains in Europe with a stop in The Netherlands (The Hague). The women end the European schedule with a tournament in Spain at Barcelona in September.