Day one of 2011 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship - Men
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Championship got the green signal on Monday, June 13 and the Italian capital of Rome greeted 52 men’s beach volleyball teams from 26 countries of the world. Teams were divided into 13 pools, where each pools accommodated four teams.
According to the set formula of Federation International de Volleyball, the team opened the tournament in preliminary round-robin, which will be continued from June 13-16. The opening day of the tournament featured a total of fourteen matches in seven pools.
Teams in Pool A, E, G, J, K, L, and M broke the ice on Monday, June 13.
In Pool A, the famous American duos came head-to-head. One side of the court was occupied by defending champions Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, while they were scheduled to contest their abilities against compatriots Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong. The
match spanned over two sets and staged a wonderful fight between the two sides. The experienced duo of Jennings/Wong hit the mark and defeated their rivals.
In the next match of Pool A teams, French Andy Ces and Kevin Ces edged out the underdog Angolan pairing of Morais Abreau and Mario Silva. Team France exhibited a skilful game and easily managed to dismiss their opponents. This game also finished in two consecutive
sets.
Likewise, Austrian, German and Swiss teams played their first matches in Pool E. In the all-German affair, pairs of Klemperer/Koreng and Erdmann/Matysik crossed paths. The fifth seeded duo of Klemperer and Koreng started off slow but devastated the compatriots
in the next two sets. At the end, Klemperer/Koreng left the court happy. In the other match, the 29th seeded Swiss tandem of Heyer and Chevallier saw off their Austrian opponents. Doppler and Mellitzer of Austria fought bravely and came close to
the Swiss duo at various moments. However, the final word was given out in the favour of the Swiss team.
USA’s Fuerbringer and Lucena opened the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Championship in Pool G. They clashed with Brazilian Thiago and Harley in the opening match. American side maintained their dominance on rival side from beginning till end. They outshone Brazilian
duo in two straight sets and bagged early victory in the tournament. Second match of Pool G featured Georgian and Australian teams. Boehm and Kapa of Australia couldn’t stand the power of killing spikes and deadly aces from the Georgian duo and lost match
in 36 minutes.
The duo of Mullner/Horst of Austria and Russian pairing of Semenov/Koshkar emerged as winners in the Pool J of the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Championship. The Austrian side was challenged by Swiss team, which comprised of Laciga M and Weingart. The 33-seeded
Austrian sparked on the scene with incredible display of beach volleyball and defeated opponents. In the other feat, Spanish Herrera and Gavira suffered the damage from Russian team. Spaniards had better ranking than the Russian pair but it couldn’t provide
them any advantage in the game.
In Pool K, Prokopiev/Bogatov of Russia collapsed in the hands of Latvian duo Plavins and Smedins. Match ended in two sets but the Russians engaged the rivals for 40 minutes. American Gibb/Rosenthal kicked out the team from Estonia and clinched success in
the first match of the championship.
In pool L and M, Czech Republic, Italy and Brazil won their opening matches.
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