Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 7, 2016 - With Switzerland having two women’s teams in the Beach Volleyball Olympic competition for the first-time, Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr helped relieve the disappointment of a setback early Sunday for the “land-locked” country by posting a seed-break-through win here Sunday evening over a German pair in the Rio 2016 “Summer” Games.
After compatriots Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre dropped a 2-1 (24-22, 18-21, 15-12) decision early Sunday morning to Fan Wang and Yuan Yue of China, Heidrich and Zumkehr regained success for Switzerland by posting a 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) Pool E win in 41 minutes over Karla Borger and Britta Buthe of Germany.
The win over the Germans also avenged a setback to their European rivals one month ago in the Swiss Alps village of Gstaad where Borger and Buthe posted a pool play win over Heidrich and Zumkehr to take a 3-1 lead in the international series between the two teams.
Zumkehr has now been a part of both Swiss women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball victories as the country has won two of 12 matches in the “Summer” Games. Simone Kuhn and Zumkehr scored the first Swiss women’s win at the London 2012 Olympic Games over a Greek team as the Swiss “misses” placed ninth at the Horse Guard Parade quadrennial.
The Swiss, who never trailed in Sunday’s match with the Germans, will play Canadians Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan for the Pool E leadership Tuesday. Bansley and Pavan, the top-seeded team in the group with the Germans second, opened their Olympic schedule by posting a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win in 39 minutes over Jantine van der Vlist and Sophie van Gestel of The Netherlands.
