truebluefan

Teams from Brazil and host China earned the first two “final four” berths here Thursday afternoon as six other men’s teams remain in contention for the gold medal at the US$350,000 China Shanghai Jinshan Open.

While fourth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu of China were netting their second-straight SWATCG-FIVB World Tour semi-final appearance this season and fifth since starting their partnership at the end of the 2005 season, Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes of Brazil remained “perfect” on the Jinshan Beach courts with their third-consecutive “final four” appearance in as many Shanghai appearances.

Wu and Xu, who advanced to the finals of the season-opening SWATCH event at the end of March in Adelaide, Australia, before settling for the silver medal, scored wins over teams from Norway Switzerland to become the first Chinese men’s tandem to advance to the semi-finals of a FIVB stop staged in the Asian country.

After posting a 21-8 and 21-16 win in 36 minutes over 21st-seeded Jorre Kjemperud and Tarjei Skarlund of Norway, Wu and Xu advanced to one of two final men’s matches on Friday by defeating ninth-seeded Martin Laciga and Jan Schnider of Switzerland.

“We are excited to achieve better success this year after disappointing our crowd last year,” said 22-year old Xu as his team has now posted a 10-2 match mark this season. “Our early success is due to our overall condition as we trained very hard in the off-season with our coaches. As we prepare for Beijing, our goal is to continue to improve our Olympic standing to qualify among the top six teams for August Games.”

Marcio Araujo and Fabio gained a semi-final berth for the first-time this season after placing ninth in Adelaide. The Brazilians have now reached the “final four” in five of their last six SWATCH starts.

The third-seeded Marcio Araujo and Fabio defeated Brazilian rivals and seventh-seeded Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto 21-19, 16-21 and 15-10 in 65 minutes. Marcio Araujo and Fabio opened play by out-lasting sixth-seeded Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack of Australia 21-15, 18-21 and 20-18 in 65 minutes.

Both Laciga/Schnider and Cunha/Franco will get a second chance for a semi-final spot Friday as the Beach Volleyball pairs await elimination matches featuring teams from Australia, Brazil, Norway and Spain as top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos dropped a pair of matches Friday to placed ninth in the competition. The reigning Olympic champions and 2005 China Shanghai Jinshan Open silver medal winners, Emanuel and Ricardo were eliminated in two sets by 12th-seeded Pablo Herrera and Raul Mesa of Spain.

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