July 21, 2008 - The FIVB has released the preliminary round schedule for the Olympic Games Beach Volleyball Tournament beginning Aug. 9 in Beijing.The U.S team of Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Santa Clara, Calif.) will begin the defense of their 2004 Olympic title with a match against Mika Teru Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara of Japan on Aug. 10 at 9 a.m. in Beijing.
May-Treanor and Walsh finished with the most Olympic qualifying points among the women’s beach teams, but are seeded second behind China’s Jia Tian and Jie Wang, who receive the top seed thanks to an FIVB rule that says a home-country team will receive the top seed if it is ranked in the top six. Tian Jia and Wang were second in points behind May-Treanor and Walsh.
The U.S. beach team of Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.) will open play on Aug. 9 against Kadijk and Mooren of the Netherlands.
The 12,000-seat Chaoyang Park in Beijing will be the venue for the fourth Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournament, with two “Lucky Loser” matches to be played on a court adjacent to Centre Court. The top two teams of each pool advance to the knockout round of 16, along with the two best third-placed teams. The remaining four third-placed teams play two playoff matches to determine the final two places (Lucky Losers) in the Round of 16.
To view the NBC schedule for volleyball, go to www.usavolleyball.org/national/08NBC_Oly_Sched.pdf.
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