Latvian beach volleyballers to better Beijing Olympic opportunity

(BEIJING, June 20) -- Thursday's Henkel Grand Chelem witnessed a couple of seed-break-through wins by 31st-seeded Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs of Latvia who beat their Germany and Estonian rivals at the Champs de Mars in Paris, as reported by the FIVB website.

Plavins and Samoilovs placed first in 2005 U-21 SWATCH-FIVB World championships. They entered this week's competition with 1,860 qualifying points for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which is based on the best eight finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since May 2007.

The Latvian duo posted a 22-20, 12-21 and 18-16 win in 65 minutes over Brink and Dieckmann earlier Thursday before striking another 21-18, 13-21 and 15-11 victory in 59 minutes to send Kais and Vesik away.

To advance further on the Olympic qualifying list, Plavins and Samoilovs will need to finish ninth or higher in the Henkel Grand Chelem. They have now secured a spot in the 24-team single-elimination field where pool winners will qualify for a "bye" and earn 320 points for finishing top 16. With two chances to go on Friday, the Latvians will be able to solidify a "bye" if they post a win over 15th-seeded Stein Metzger and Mark Williams.

In case that Plavins and Samoilovs lost the pool play to the Americans, plus a victory of second-seeded Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann over 18th-seeded Kristjan Kais and Rivo Vesik of Estonia, there would be a three-way tie, under which circumstances pool leadership will be determined on set and point ratios.

"We like our position for tomorrow," FIVB website quotes 23-year-old Samoilovs as saying after the match, "we have to take advantage of this opportunity to really help our Olympic chances by winning our first match Friday against the Americans. Both American players are very experienced, but we defeat two very experienced teams today. Both matches today were very tough, so we are tired right now."