Morais Abreau looking to make history in third match: SWATCH FIVB Championship – Beach Volleyball
Morais Abreau is a 42-year-old beach volleyball player from Angola and he is representing his country at the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Championship, which is underway in Rome, Italy. The elite men’s beach volleyball competition started off on Monday, June 13
and it will complete its length over the weekend. The event is attended by beach volleyball tandems from every nook and cranny of the world. The pairing of Morais Abreau and Mario Silva from Angola is also on board, and are looking to give their country its
first win.
Morais, who is a well known sports personality in his own country, was quite excited and determined before the start of the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Championship. On the opening day of the tournament, he stated, “It is a big, big emotion to be here, because
it is a great sport. And then we are here to represent our country and our continent. It’s very, very important for our country because when our country sees us in this tournament it can help us develop beach volleyball. We come here and then people see and
they realise that this sport exists.”
Morais/Silva were challenged by the French brothers Kevin Ces and Andy Ces in the opening match of the tournament on Monday. The French side proved to be too strong for the Angolan team and defeated them in two straight sets. They claimed the match by sending
2-0 (21-11, 21-10) onto the board. Morais and Silva played with the best of their tactics but couldn’t overcome the power of the French duo and they failed to open the championship on a good note.
The African pairing came across top-seeded American duo of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the second match on Tuesday, June 14. It was a tough encounter as Dalhausser and Rogers are renowned SWATCH FIVB World Tour Champions. They have clinched two gold-medals
and one silver-medal in the previous tournaments of the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour. The Angolan team was strongly labelled as under-dogs. American duo subdued Morais/Sliva in just 35 minutes and claimed a comfortable win. They posted 21-13, 21-13 in two consecutive
sets to put the opponents out of the court.
No matter if they win or lose, Morais has plans to continue playing beach volleyball for another year. He has hopes of reaching the London 2012 Olympic Games. He said, “I can try for this. We have to win in Africa at the Continental Cup to arrive at the
Olympic Games."
Morais/Silva are scheduled to play their third match on Wednesday, June 15, where they will be facing U.S. pairing of Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong. The African team has big plans to create some buzz in the last match of the first round. Fans are waiting
to see if they are able to make a difference today. Do not forget to check back for the results.
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