Durban, South Africa,
December 12, 2013 – After a tumultuous qualification day, the first day of main
draw at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Durban Open held no surprises. Besides maybe the
rainy weather conditions at Durban’s New Beach there were no major upsets on
Thursday. In the men’s competition two
teams are still in the race for the World Tour title. Neither one of them gave
an inch. Both the current leaders, Latvia’s Smedins and Samoilovs, and their
rivals, Pedro and Bruno from Brazil remained unbeaten. World Tour
leaders on track in Durban
Latvia’s Janis Smedins and
Aleksandrs Samoilovs did not make any mistakes on the first day of main draw at
the FIVB Beach Volleyball Durban Open. The current leaders of the World Tour
season ranking won both their matches on Thursday at New Beach.
Their rivals for the title, Brazil’s Pedro Solberg and Bruno Oscar Schmidt,
were also flawless, booking two straight wins over South Africa’s Stemmet and
Naidoo (21-17 21-8) and Sekerci and Giginoglu from Turkey (21-15 21-16). More
Namibia’s Elizabeth Röttcher makes
FIVB debut at 44
The FIVB Beach Volleyball
Durban Open features a lot of newcomers this week, but not all of them are
youngsters. At the age of 44 Namibia’s Elizabeth Röttcher made her FIVB debut
on Thursday on the first day of main draw.
She and her partner Julia Laggner were given a wildcard for the fourth and
final FIVB Open of the year. After two losses against South Africa’s Williams
and Sekhonyana (21-11 21-15) and Japan’s Take and Mizoe (21-11 21-15) the pair
takes up last place in pool A, but Röttcher is still having the time of their
life. More
South Africa’s Williams is
trying to focus on beach volleyball in emotional week
South Africa’s Leo Williams, like
all the other home players, is trying his best to focus on beach volleyball in
this memorial week.
While the country is mourning for the loss of former president and freedom
fighter Nelson Mandela, Williams and his partner Jerome Fredericks opened the
first day of main draw at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Durban Open with a match
against Namibia on centre court. More
USA’s Kessy not about to say
goodbye yet
She has had some injury
problems and was not happy with her finishes this year, but 36-year old Jennifer
Kessy is not about to quit yet. The Olympic silver medallist is still having
too much fun and decided to partner up with Whitney Pavlik for the FIVB Beach
Volleyball Open in Durban this week.
On a rainy centre court at Durban’s New Beach the American pair won their first
game easily, playing fast and effective against inexperienced Milagros
Hernandez and Yetzi Garcia from Venezuela: 21-13 21-15. More
The Durban Open continues on
Friday with the third and last pool round, followed by the first knockout
round. The numbers two and three of each pool advance to the first elimination
round, the pool winners earn a bye. Saturday will feature a round of 16 and the
quarterfinals.
Out of respect for the late
Nelson Mandela, who will be buried on Sunday, the semifinals and finals of the
Durban Open were put forward to Saturday evening. The winners in both the men’s
and women’s competition earn 11.000 US dollars. The silver medallists split
8.000 and third place earns 6.000.
The 2013 Durban Open is the
fifth FIVB event in South Africa, after editions in 1995, 1996, 2004 and 2005.
All previous events except the one in 1996 were held in Cape Town.
FIVB Durban Open
tournament page
FIVB Durban Open
women’s schedule and results
FIVB Durban Open
men’s schedule and results
FIVB Durban Open Twitter account
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account