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Italian Open features 55-team men's SWATCH FIVB World Tour qualifier
Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy, May 13, 2008 - A 55-team qualifying field has been set for the third annual Italian Open presented by Abruzzo as the Beach Volleyball tandems from Brazil, Italy and the United States won Country Quota playoff matches here Tuesday to advance to Wednesday's competition.
The fourth of 20 men's events on the 2008 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, the US$175,000 Italian Open presented by Abruzzo Qualification Tournament will determine the final eight entries for Thursday's opening Main Draw rounds. The medal matches on the Palabeach at the Lungomare Trento will be played Sunday when the final two teams compete for the $28,000 first-place prize.
Brazil's Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto protected their No. 1-seeded in the qualifier by winning a pair of Country Quota matches Tuesday over Alison Cerutti/Bernardo Romano (21-15 and 21-13, 41 minutes) and Luizao Correa/Benjamin Insfran (16-21, 21-19 and 15-13, 76).
In defeating Luizao and Benjamin for the third-straight week in the Country Quota rounds, Cunha and Franco are now 5-0 in the preliminary rounds. Cunha and Franco must win two qualifying matches Wednesday to earn a spot in the "money" rounds to join three other Brazilian pairs in Thursday's competition where defending Italian Open presented by Abruzzo champions Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes await the Main Draw field.
Marcio Araujo and Fabio captured the 2007 Italian Open presented by Abruzzo by defeating compatriots Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos 23-21, 16-21 and 15-12 in the 80-minute finale. Emanuel and Ricardo also captured the 2006 Roseto Degli Abruzzi silver medal after losing the title match 14-21, 21-17 and 15-12 in 59 minutes to Switzerland’s Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel.
With three teams already in the Italian Open presented by Abruzzo Main Draw, host Italy will have four teams in Wednesday's qualifier, including Rodolfo Cavaliere and Fabio Galli after the pair won a Country Quota match Tuesday. Italians in the "money" rounds are Riccardo "Riccardino" Lione/Matteo Varnier, Eugenio Amore/Riccardo Bizzotto and Francesco Giontella/Paolo Nicolai.
Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer won the American Country Quota playoff and will join compatriots Stein Metzger and Mark Williams in the qualifier seeking two more Main Draw berths for the North American country where Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal have already been placed.
Dalhausser and Rogers are the 2007 SWATCH FIVB World champions while Gibb and Rosenthal won last week's SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop in the Czech Republic where the Americans defeated Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann of Germany 21-13 and 23-21 in the Prague finale.
A total of 84 men's teams from 35 countries have competed or will compete in the Italian Open Presented by Abruzzo (as of May 13, 2008), including Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and Venezuela.
Following the Italian Open presented by Abruzzo, the men's SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues in Europe for an event in Croatia (Zagreb, May 20-25) before heading to Spain for a double gender event in Barcelona. The women's circuit is in Korea (Seoul) this week and competes in Japan (Osaka, May 20-25) before traveling back to Europe and the $350,000 Barcelona event
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