Gold medalists cruise to semis

JAKARTA (JP): Brazilian Olympic gold medalists Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires displayed the most calm of the day en route to the semifinals of the 11th Women's Beach Volleyball World Championship yesterday.

Top-seeded Silva/Pires were pushed into a fight by Australian duo Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook, Olympic bronze medalists, in 49 minutes of draining game play, but stayed cool for a 15-13 win.

In the earlier round-robin match yesterday, the Brazilian duo defeated ninth seeds Ana Maria Solazzi and Laura Bruschini of Italy 15-7.

The Brazilians, who apparently ran out of steam, gave up their final group match with a 14-16 loss to American fourth seeds Holly McPeak and Karrie Poppinga in a one-hour match played under heavy rain.

"We are very exhausted, because we haven't had enough time to rest after the Olympics," Silva said at a press conference.

Silva/Pires had played in 15 tournaments, seven at home and eight World Series tournaments.

"I think we had already reached our peak performance during the Olympics," Pires said.

Silva/Pires are tipped to meet second-seeded countrymates Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in today's second semifinal, which will be aired live by the TPI TV channel at around 1.00 p.m.

The other semifinal will pit McPeak/Poppinga against German sixth seeds Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Muesch, who crashed to their first defeat at the hands of Behar/Bede.

McPeak/Poppinga and Behar/Bede were the only unbeaten teams going into the semifinals of the US$140,000 event, sponsored by tile company Keramik Diamond.

Friedrichsen/Muesch beat Angela Rock and Barbara Fontana of the United States 15-10 to reach the final four round-robin competition yesterday.

Olympic silver medalists Kerrie Pottharst and Natalie Cook failed to cruise to today's semifinal after their two losses to Silva/Pires and Friedrichsen/Muesch.

The Indonesian sole pair of Beatrix Renyaan and Fransina Une Putty, who reached the second round in their World Championship debut, failed to maintain their best form yesterday. They exited the tournament after a 15-6 defeat to Pernille Jorgensen and Camilla Funck of Denmark.

The national best team of Ni Putu Timy Yudhani Rahayu and Engel Berta Kaize made an early exit Friday after losing two of their three first-round matches. (yan)