Georgia for first time in beach volleyball top four
18/8/2008 18:09
Georgia's Renato "Geor" Gomes and Jorge "Gia" Terceiro earned the first
beach volleyball semifinal berth at the Beijing Olympics today, the first time
in the country's history.
In a quarterfinal of men's beach volleyball
tournament, they downed higher-ranked Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of
the Netherlands in straight sets (21-19, 21-19).
This was the first time a
Georgian team gets a berth in the semifinal of beach volleyball tournament at
the Olympics.
Soon after the last winning point was made, Terceiro got across
the rail and ran to the top of the spectators stand, standing below the national
flag of Georgia and stretching both his arms.
"In the first set when we
trailed 9-12, I saw the national flag. It gave me power," he said later at a
press conference.
The Georgian duo will take on Todd Rogers and Phil
Dalhausser of the United States in the semifinal on Aug. 20.
The Dutch team,
ranking fifth on the Olympic qualification, said they were disappointed with the
game against the Georgians, finishing 15th on the Olympic qualification
ranking.
"Our serves and side-outs were bad in the match. The Georgians
played well and deserved to win," said Schuil, who was a three-time Dutch
volleyball Olympian with a 1996 gold medal in Atlanta.
For both of the Dutch
players, the Beijing Games are their first Olympics.
The beach volleyball
tournament at the Beijing Olympics would be exciting as many teams are close in
strength, coaches said before the Games started.
"Except two or three teams
which are relatively strong and consistent in performance, most of the other
teams are almost at the same level, " said Miao Zhihong, head coach of the
Chinese team.
The competition in the men's tournament would be very fierce
and the ranking in the Olympic qualification list didn't necessarily mean their
real abilities, Dutch beach volleyball team official Bert Goedkoop also
said.
In a quarterfinal match held earlier today, US gold favorites
Rogers/Dalhausser edged out German pair David Klemperer and Eric Koreng in
straight sets (21-13,25-23) in a contentious match.
The first red card in the
beach volleyball tournament was given to the German team due to a time delay and
a point was awarded to the Americans for that.
"It was a time delay, but not
seriously, we were disappointed with how the point was awarded. We have no
problems with the referee but we definitely had problems with his
interpretations." Klemperer claimed later.
Xinhua
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