Brazilians Eliminate Top Mexican Team In Italian Open Qualification Tournament
Lignano Sabbiadoro (July 14, 1999) - Paulo Emilio Azevedo and Fred Doria of Brazil scored three-straight wins here Wednesday (July 14), including an elimination victory over second-seeded Joel Sotelo and Juan Ibarra of Mexico, to highlight competition during the opening three rounds of the $170,000 Italian Open Qualification Tournament.
Fifty-seven (57) teams from 22 countries started competition Wednesday to determine the final eight spots in the 32-team Main Draw for the seventh annual Italian Open, the seventh of 13 men's events on the 1999 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Thursday's final qualifying rounds start at 10 a.m. with 12 countries vying for Main Draw berths.
Wednesday's Qualification Tournament, which was played before 10,000 spectators (31 degree C), started with two rounds of elimination matches to narrow the field to 16 teams for the double-elimination portion of the qualifier. Seeded 34th, Paulo Emilio and Fred eliminated Mark Lukowicz and Rowan Searle of Australia 15-6 before outsting Sotelo and Ibarra 15-9 in a 49-minute match. The Brazilians ended the day with a 15-3 win over fellow countrymen Franco Neto and Roberto Lopes.
Sotelo and Ibarra, who entered the Italian Open ranked 17th on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, were one of five teams seeded in the Qualification Tournament Top 16 to be eliminated during Wednesday's first two rounds. Sotelo and Ibarra had posted a seventh and two 13ths in five previous international starts this season with a 12-10 match mark entering the Italian Open.
With their three upset wins Wednesday, Paulo Emilio and Fred set up a "shootout" for Brazil's fourth and final spot in the Main Draw. Top-seeded Giovane Gavio and Tande Ramos of Brazil advanced to the Italian Open's Qualification Tournament "Round of 16" with two wins Wednesday.
Giovana and Tande are seeking to earn their fifth Main Draw berth at a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event this season. Winners of 22 of 26 qualifying matches this season, Giovane and Tande did not gain a Main Draw berth in the Canadian Open after dropping a pair of matches to Franco and Roberto Lopes.
The 18th-seeded Franco and Roberto Lopes won their opening two matches Wednesday before losing to Paulo Emilio and Fred. Franco and Roberto Lopes are the second-winningest team in FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour history with 13 titles. Paulo Emilio won the 1992 and 1995 Italian Open Gold Medals with Paulao Moreira.
Wednesday's biggest "surprise" advancements to the "Round of 16" were posted by 42nd-seeded Tristan Boyd and Pat Gulline of Australia, 44th-seeded Tom and Paul Schroffenegger of Austria and 54th-seeded Fabio Galli and-Andrea Bernabe of Italy.
All three teams posted upset wins in the first two qualifying rounds before losing a third-round match. Galli and Bernabe, the only remaining team from eight Italian qualifying teams, ousted 11th-seeded Mikhail Kouchnerev and Serguei Ermichin of Russia 15-4 in the first-round. The Schroffeneggers ousted 12th-seeded Bernhard Vesti and Markus Egger of Switzerland 15-10 in the second-round.
Four winner's bracket matches open Thursday's schedule with Giovane/Tande playing eighth-seeded Dmittri Karassev/Swegey Sayfulin of Russia, fifth-seeded Oliver Oetke-Andy/Scheuerpflug of Germany facing Michal Palinek/Martin Lebl of the Czech Republic, third-seeded Premysl Kubala/Marek Pakosta of the Czech Republic meeting sixth-seeded Willie DeJesus/Amaury Velasco of Puerto Rico, and seventh-seeded Dain Blanton/Eric Fonoimoana of the United States challenging Paulo Emilio/Fred.
Four loser's bracket matches will also be played Thursday morning with Franco/Roberto Lopes facing Boyd/Gulline, 14th-seeded Victor Anfilloff/AndrewSchacht of Australia meeting Galli/Bernabe, 13th-seeded Albert/Nick Hannemann playing the Schroffeneggers, and ninth-seeded Bjorn BergSimon Dahl of Sweden confronting 16th-seeded Brian Gatzke/Dan Lewis of Canada.
Twenty-four (24) teams from 13 countries have already been placed in the Main Draw. The three-day Main Draw starts with 40 matches Friday at 9 a.m. Saturday's action starts at 10 a.m. when a total of 18 matches will be played to determine the final four teams. The semi-final matches will start at 10 a.m. Sunday'. The Bronze Medal match is scheduled for 3 p.m. where the winning team shares $15,000 for third-place. The Gold Medal match will start at approximately 4:30 p.m. where the final two teams battle for the $30,000 first-place prize.
Para Ferreira and Guilherme Marques of Brazil are the defending Italian Open champions after defeating Martin and Paul Laciga of Switzerland 12-6 and 12-8 in the 1998 Gold Medal match. Para and Guilherme are the reigning FIVB Beach Volleyball World Champions after winning the title in 1997 in Los Angeles.
Teams from South American have won the last five Lignano titles, including four Gold medals by Brazil and a 1997 win by Martin Conde and Esteban Martinez of Argentina. Tim Hovland and Kent Steffes from the United States won the first Lignano event in 1990. Emanuel Scheffer and Ze'Marco de Melo of Brazil won the 1996 Lignano final.
Ze'Marco and Emanuel are part of the FIVB's top teams this season as both players have won Gold Medals with different partners. Ze'Maro and Ricardo Santos, the top-ranked international team, are the only tandem on the 1999 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour to post "final four" finishes in each event. Ze'Marco and Ricardo have won the Canadian and Russian Opens this season.
Emanuel, who has won the most FIVB Gold Medals (21) in the 12-season history of the tour, has teamed with Jose Loiola to win the 1999 season opener in Argentina and last Sunday's Norwegian Open in Stavanger where the pair rallied to defeat Para and Guilherme 15-13 in the finals. Emanuel and Loiola defeated Martinez and Conde in the Argentina Gold Medal match.
Other 1999 winners in the Italian Open are Bill Boullianne and Ian Clark of the United States and Luis Maia and Joao Brenha of Portugal. Boullianne and Clark defeated Para and Guilherme in April's Mexican Open finale while Maia and Brenha stopped Ze'Marco and Ricardo in the Russian Open Gold Medal match.
With the Mexican Open title by Boullianne and Clark, the United States captured its first FIVB Tour crown in 29 international events. Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, the Silver medallists from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, were the last team from the United States to win a FIVB beach event by capturing the Fortaleza, Brazil international stop October 27, 1996. The Boullianne/Clark win also snapped five-straight FIVB men's beach titles for Brazil.
The 1999 Italian Open will be the ninth FIVB men's event to be staged in Italy. Sinjin Smith, the oldest elite beach volleyball player in the world at 42, captured Italian Gold Medals for the United States with Randy Stoklos in 1989 at Jesi and 1991 at Catolica.
The Italian Open will be the 94th men's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event. A total of 46 men from nine countries have earned gold medals on the beach. Brazil has captured 54 men's event titles. Emanuel has earned 43 FIVB beach medals for Brazil with a record 15 first-place finishes with Ze'Marco. The United States has won 21 Gold Medals with Smith sharing 10 titles with Stoklos.
With two teams playing for the Norwegian Gold, Brazil has now been represented in 22-straight international championship matches. The last time the South Americans did not reach the finals was September 7, 1997 in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Brazil also has had a team in a FIVB "final four" in each of the last 37 international events since being denied a semi-final berth in the 1996 Portugal event. With Ze'Marco and Ricardo's 15-12 third-place win over the Lacigas in Norway, Brazil has now posted six "one-two-three" medal finish in at a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.
Following the Italian Open, the international competition moves to Marseille, France for the $600,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships July 19-25. The event will feature both men's and women's competition. The Italian Open is the fifth event in 10-straight weeks of competition for the men. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour serves as qualification tournaments for the 2000 Sydney Games where a total of 24 teams for both men and women battle for the Olympic Gold.
Here's a list of teams still competing in the Italian Open Qualification Tournament that have earned Main Draw berths via the 1999 Qualification Tournaments (events qualified for):
Giovane Gavio-Tande Ramos, Brazil - Four times (Argentina, Mexico, Germany and Norway)
Michal Palinek-Martin Lebl, Czech Republic - Four times(Canada, Russia, Germany and Norway)
Albert Hannemann-Nick. Hannemann, American Samoa - Three times (Argentina, Canada and Norway)
Victor Anfilloff-AndrewSchacht, Australia - Three times (Mexico, Russia and German)
Willie DeJesus-Amaury Velasco, Puerto Rico - Three times (Argentina, Mexico and Canada)
Bjorn Berg-Simon Dahl, Sweden - Twice (Mexico and Russian)
Dmittri Karassev-Swegey Sayfulin, Russia - Twice (Canada and Germany)
Oliver Oetke-Andy Scheuerpflug, Germany - Twice (Argentina and Norway)
Dain Blanton-Eric Fonoimoana, United States - Once (Canada)
Franco Neto-Roberto Lopes, Brazil - Once (Canada)
Premysl Kubala-Marek Pakosta, Czech Republic - Once (Russia)
Here's a list of teams still competing in the Italian Open Qualification Tournament that are seeking their first Main Draw berth after failing to qualify in pervious 1999 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events:
Tristan Boyd and Pat Gulline of Australia (Canada, Russia, Germany and Norway)
Tom Schroffenegger and Paul Schroffenegger of Austria (Argentina and Berlin)
Fabio Galli and-Andrea Bernabe of Italy (first 1999 event)
Paulo Emilio Azevedo and Fred Doria of Brazil (Norway)
Brian Gatzke and Dan Lewis of Canada (Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Germany and Norway)
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