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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.

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