Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy, May 14, 2008 - With the largest qualifying field in 17 SWATCH FIVB World Tour events, eight teams secured Main Draw spots here Wednesday for the $US175,000 Italian Open presented by Abruzzo as one other Beach Volleyball tandem netted a "lucky loser" berth due to a late withdrawal.
The 21st of 29 men qualifying events for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Main Draw for the third annual Italian Open presented by Abruzzo begins Thursday and concludes Sunday on the Palabeach at the Lungomare Trento when the final two teams compete for the $28,000 first-place prize.
With only three of the top eighth-seeded men's teams advancing from Wednesday's play to the Main Draw, the 55-team Italian Open presented by Abruzzo Qualification Tournament had the largest number of competitors for the preliminary rounds since last year's SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop in Zagreb, Croatia.
Top-ranked teams initially surviving from Wednesday's single-elimination format were top-seeded Pedro Cunha/Franco Neto of Brazil and eighth-seeded Fabien Dugrip/Gregory Gagliano of France. Due to the late withdrawal of Germany's Jonas Reckermann/Mischa Urbatzka, second-seeded Renato "Geor" Gomes/Jorge "Gia" Terceiro of Georgia gained a Main Draw berth via a "lucky loser" draw with the third-seeded Jochem De Gruijter/Gijs Ronnes of the Netherlands.
Jackson Henriquez and Igor Hernandez of Venezuela, the 18th-seeded team, had initially eliminated Geor and Gia from the competition with a win 17-21, 21-18 and 15-13 in 64 minutes in the final round of the qualifier while De Gruijter and Ronnes were ousted by 14th-seeded Jose Pedrosa and Pedro Rosas of Portugal 21-19 and 21-14 in 39 minutes. A "lucky loser" draw is between the top two-seeded teams losing in the final qualifying round when there is a late Main Draw withdrawal.
Netting Main Draw berths with seed-breakthroughs in the final qualifying round were a pair of teams from the United States along with 10th-seeded Kjell Goranson/Vegard Hoidalen of Norway and the 14th-seeded Ces brothers (Andy and Kevin) of France. Americans advancing were 17th-seeded Stein Metzger/Mark Williams and 20th-seeded Matt Fuerbringer/Casey Jennings.
The United States will now have four teams in the Main Draw along with Brazil as both countries have the top two teams in Thursday's competition. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States, the 2007 SWATCH FIVB World champions, will be the top-seeded team with reigning Olympic champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos of Brazil listed second.
Complete article