truebluefan

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truebluefan

no team wants to oversleep the season’s kick-off

Grand Canary, April 16, 2008. These are the things anybody may associate to beach volleyball competitions: hot temperatures (30° C), a location close to the sea, a great atmosphere and lots of exciting matches.
The day before the Qualification Tournament to the Spanish Masters, which serves as the first leg of the 2008 NESTEA European Championship Tour, there was already plenty of sweat lost on the courts of Playa del Ingles, Grand Canary. A total of 39 men’s and women’s teams had to assert themselves in the so-called country quota play-offs to secure a spot in the above mentioned qualification tournament. 14 duos advanced in the end and will be back on Thursday morning to try to get themselves into the main draw.

The following teams survived the matches played within the frame of the country quota play-offs:
Men: Gavira/Lario (Spain), Matysik/Uhmann (Germany), De Gruitjer/Ronnes (Netherlands), Laciga M./Schnider and Gabathuler/Wenger (both Switzerland).

Women:Campisi/Lozano (Spain), Van Iersel/Wesselink and Boersma/Leenstra (both Netherlands), Klapalova/Patrova and Kolocova/Slukova (both Czech Republic), Goller/Ludwig (Germany), Graessli/Zumkehr, Guerra/Schmocker-Truessel and Kuhn/Schwer (all representing Switzerland).

32 men’s and women’s duos will now apply for the four spots still available in the main draw of the Spanish Masters which features a 100,000 € prize money.

Schedule:
Thursday, April 17: Qualification Tournament Men/Women
Friday, April 18: Main Draw Men/Women
Saturday, April 19: Main Draw Men/Women; in the afternoon Semifinals Men/Women
Sunday, April 20: Finals Women (11 am) and Men (1 pm)

For further information on the NESTEA European Championship Tour 2008 please visit: Beach Volleyball - European Championship Tour

__________________
Great American Bash July 20
International and domestic Cricket
AVP & FIVB Volleyball in full swing.
NFL Training camps open July 21-27
PGA and LPGA Tour
DREAM.5: LIGHT WEIGHT GRANDPRIX 2008 FINAL ROUND July 21

truebluefan

Grand Canary, April 17, 2008: Anyone who already has a spot in the main draw of the Spanish Masters of the NESTEA European Championship Tour is a happy camper.

He or she will calmly be watching the teams in the 52 matches of the qualification rounds and studying his potential opponents. Patrick Heuscher (Switzerland) was one of the numerous spectators who watched the games on the four courts on Playa del Ingles. It was a very laid-back phase for Heuscher while many of his opponents were already heavily sweating on the job. “It feels pretty good to be relaxing a bit more", Heuscher said, “because the Spanish Masters will be tough enough anyway with this high-class starters field."
And so Heuscher, who will be playing in the main draw with his partner Sascha Heyer on Friday, saw how some favored teams not only struggled, but did not survive the 32-team men's and women's Qualification Round. Like Heuscher's compatriot and three-time European Champion Martin Laciga who was eliminated with his partner Jan Schnider by the Spanish local heroes Adrian Gavira and Inocencio Lario in three sets (19:12, 21:14, 15:17). “In this tough qualification five poor minutes are enough to lose the match", David Klemperer (Germany) said, the leader of the European ranking list with partner Eric Koreng.
The following teams survived the Qualification Rounds:

Women: Schwaiger/Schwaiger (AUT), Koutroumanidou/Tsiartsiani (GRE), Goller/Ludwig (GRE), Kuhn/Schwer (SUI).

Men: Matysik/Uhmann (GER), Lione/Varnier (ITA), Ces/Ces (FRA).

Because of the tight entry list, not all of the qualification matches could be proceeded on Thursday. The remaining match of the third round will be played on Friday morning: Goranson/Hoidalen (Norway) will play against Kadziola/Szalankiewicz (Poland).


Schedule:
Friday, April 18: Main Draw Men/Women

Saturday, April 19: Main Draw Men/Women; in the afternoon Semifinals Men/Women

Sunday, April 20: Finals Women (11 am) and Men (1 pm)

Beach Volleyball fans can enjoy a new broadcasting service starting this weekend. LAOLOA1.tv - the sport TV on the web - will be showing images of the NESTEA European Championship Tour as a free video live stream at www.laola1.tv. The 100,000 € Spanish Masters on Grand Canary is the kick-off event for the novel service. LAOLA1.tv will be showing the men's and women's semi-final and finals matches live from the Playa del Ingles. Additional matches beginning with the preliminary rounds of the Spanish Masters can be seen live on www.bwin.com.

__________________
Great American Bash July 20
International and domestic Cricket
AVP & FIVB Volleyball in full swing.
NFL Training camps open July 21-27
PGA and LPGA Tour
DREAM.5: LIGHT WEIGHT GRANDPRIX 2008 FINAL ROUND July 21

truebluefan

Grand Canary, April 18, 2008. The location which was appointed to stage the Spanish Masters – first leg of the 2008 NESTEA European Championship Tour - is only half a hour flight from Fuerteventura.

A number of European top teams have profited from the proximity between the two Canary Islands to prepare in unison for the opening tournament of the 2008 season. Brink/Dieckmann (2006 European Champions) trained on Fuerteventura with Estonia’s Kais/Vesik. Germany’s Klemperer/Koreng (top seeded team on the European ranking list) teamed up there with Horst/Gosch from Austria. In the middle of the week they jetted over to the Spanish Masters for a reunion of sorts. But this time on the centre court where Brink/Dieckmann beat Kais/Vesik in three sets in the second winner’s round. “We did joke around that we could very well meet again later in the tournament”, Christoph Dieckmann said. Just like at the 2007 kick-off tournament, the Austrian Masters in St. Pölten, where the German duo lost in the second round but came back to beat Kais/Vesik in the semi-final and finally win the competition. “We will see how it turns out this time”, Dieckmann says.

Brink/Dieckmann began the tournament well and they reached the winner’s third round alongside their compatriots Jonas Reckermann/Mischa Urbatzka, Russia’s Dmitri Barsuk/Igor Kolodinsky as well as Patrick Heuscher and Sascha Heyer of Switzerland, where they will play for a direct berth in the semi-finals. The match-ups are set: Brink/Dieckmann vs. Heuscher/Heyer and Reckermann/Urbatzka vs. Barsuk/Kolodinsky.

However not all of the teams favored to advance lived up to their billing. Prominent names like Austria’s Doppler/Gartmayer (2007 European Champions) and the Spanish local heroes Pablo Herrera and Raul Mesa (2005 European Champions) found themselves in the loser’s round. In their direct confrontation the Spaniards came out on top in three sets (21:12, 26:28, 15:13), whereas Doppler/Gartmayer finished with a disappointing ninth ranking.

The first day of the women’s man draw of the 100,000 € Spanish Masters also had some surprises in store. It was a one-two-barbecue performance for Norway’s Nila Hakedal and Ingrid Toerlen. The EC bronze medalists finished 13th after being defeated by Germany’s Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig and Rebekka De Kogel-Kadijk/Merel Mooren of the Netherlands. The tournament was also surprisingly short-lived for the 2006 European Champions Alexandra Shiryaeva and Natalia Uryadova from Russia who also finished 13th.

The following teams will face off in the third winner's round of the women’s competition beginning on Saturday morning: Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig (Germany) will play Susanne Glesnes/Katherine Maaseide (Norway) and the Austrian duo Sara Montagnolli/Sabine Swoboda are set to face Belgium’s Liesbeth Mouha and Liesbet van Breedam. The latter duo seems likely to begin the new season with a bang: last year they surprised the international Beach Volleyball scene with a fourth place finish at the Austrian Masters.

Schedule:

Saturday, April 19: Main Draw Men/Women; in the afternoon Semifinals Men/Women

Sunday, April 20: Finals Women (11 am) and Men (1 pm)


Beach Volleyball fans can enjoy a new broadcasting service starting this weekend. LAOLOA1.tv - the sport TV on the web - will be showing images of the NESTEA European Championship Tour as a free video live stream at www.laola1.tv. The 100,000 € Spanish Masters on Grand Canary is the kick-off event for the novel service. LAOLA1.tv will be showing the men's and women's semi-final and finals matches live from the Playa del Ingles. Additional matches beginning with the preliminary rounds of the Spanish Masters can be seen live on www.bwin.com.

__________________
Great American Bash July 20
International and domestic Cricket
AVP & FIVB Volleyball in full swing.
NFL Training camps open July 21-27
PGA and LPGA Tour
DREAM.5: LIGHT WEIGHT GRANDPRIX 2008 FINAL ROUND July 21

truebluefan

Grand Canary, April 20, 2008. Sara Goller would have liked to cry out her unbridled joy over the victory of the final of the Spanish Masters. But that was just not possible anymore: “I have had a really bad sore throat over the last few days”, she complained and so she was left with a somewhat silent celebration of the two set (21:19, 21:14) victory against Austria’s Sara Montagnolli and Sabine Swoboda. Goller’s partner Laura Ludwig had her say though. “It was a very draining tournament making the finals victory even sweeter.”

The tournament had begun for the German duo with the matches of the country quota playoffs on Wednesday and ended with their tenth match at noon on Sunday in hot temperatures on the Playa del Ingles. At least the two young Berlin natives (Goller is 23, Ludwig 22) were adequately rewarded for their privations. They received 11,000 Euros in prize money and 600 ranking list points for their victory of the first leg of the 2008 NESTEA European Championship Tour. Montagnolli/Swoboda took home 7,500 € and 540 points for their second place. The Austrian duo now has two silver medals on the tour following their second place at last year’s Swiss Masters.
Goller/Ludwig seem to especially enjoy tournaments on Spanish beaches. Their most valuable medals so far on the European tournament series have all been unearthed out of the Iberian sand.

Complete article

__________________
Great American Bash July 20
International and domestic Cricket
AVP & FIVB Volleyball in full swing.
NFL Training camps open July 21-27
PGA and LPGA Tour
DREAM.5: LIGHT WEIGHT GRANDPRIX 2008 FINAL ROUND July 21