News Beach volleyball 18/06/2014 Upsetting day for German teams at Berlin smart Grand Slam Berlin, Germany, June 18,2014 - The second day of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Berlin smartGrand Slam was an upsetting day for German fans and players. Top seeded KatrinHoltwick and Ilka Semmler lost both of their pool matches on Wednesday and haveno chance of reaching the knockout phase anymore. Three more German teams in thewomen’s main draw, Laboureur/Sude, Mersmann/Schneider and Bieneck/Grossner, also lost twice, but in theory they can still reach the first elimination round ifthey win their third pool match on Thursday. The only team that kept the German hopes up, was Borger/Buthe with two wins. In the men’s qualificationthere was no luck for German teams Dittelbach/Koreng and ArminDollinger/Wickler either. They did not make it to main draw. Last year’schampions Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima from Brazil stayed on track with twostraight wins. So did other title candidates April Ross and Kerri Walsh, who won the Moscow Grand Slam last week, and European champions Marleen van Iersel and Madelein Meppelink. Berlin Grand Slam ends forhome team Holtwick/SemmlerAfter only one day, the FIVBWorld Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam has already ended for top seeded home teamKatrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler. The German pair lost twice on the first day of main draw on Wednesday and dueto the other results in the pool, has no chance to reach the knockout phaseanymore. For the second week in a row Holtwick and Semmler will finish last intheir pool. Readmore Tough opening match for 2013champions Talita/Lima in Berlin Last year’s champions TalitaAntunes and Taiana Lima were pushed hard in their opening match of the FIVBWorld Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam on Wednesday. They eventually defeated their fellow Brazilians Maria Antonelli and JulianaFelisberta 2-0 (26-24 23-21) in an entertaining match with lots of rallies, butit could have easily gone the other way. Readmore Brazil’s Bruno/Alison pushedhard in Berlin qualification Brazil’s Bruno Oscar Schmidtand Alison Cerutti were pushed hard in qualification on Wednesday, but reachedthe main draw of the FIVB World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam anyway. The top seeded qualification team had a bye in the first qualification round,but their Dutch opponents in the second were not about to give them a free passinto main draw. Readmore The FIVB World Tour Berlin smartGrand Slam continues on Thursday with the final pool matches in the women’stournament, while the men play their first two round robin matches. Berlin is hosting a women’sFIVB World Tour event for the 9th time and a men’s event for the 15th time.After two years in the outskirts of the city, the $800,000 Berlin smart GrandSlam has returned to the city centre. The centre court and secondcourt are on Washingtonplatz in the government district. The three other courtsare at Beach Mitte, a beach volleyball club close by. After Berlin the FIVB WorldTour will move to Norway, for the Stavanger Grand Slam (June 24-28). Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News