ConocoPhillips Grand Slam women's qualifier aids Beijing hopefuls

Qualifying for the third of six Grand Slam events on the 2008 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar was held here Tuesday with three of the top eight-seeded women's teams advancing to the Wednesday's opening Main Draw schedule.

Led by top-seeded Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder of the United States, seven of the eight matches were played before the opening ceremonies for the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam as the second of seven days of Beach Volleyball competition closed with a Germany against Spain qualifying match.

With silver medal placements at two of the past three SWATCH FIVB World Tour in Poland and France, Turner and Wacholder defeated teams from Norway and Italy to advance to the "money" rounds where competition will continue through Saturday for the women when the bronze and gold medal matches are held.

The seventh double gender SWATCH FIVB World Tour event this season, the men's qualifier will be played Wednesday followed by the Main Draw's pool play and elimination bracket matches Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The men's semi-final and podium placement matches will be held Sunday as the final two teams compete for the second of two ConocoPhillips Grand Slam $43,500 first-place checks to be awarded.

"We certainly did not get a chance to enjoy our silver medal finish in Paris Sunday as we had to get to Stavanger for today's qualifier," said Turner, who was eliminated in last year's ConocoPhillips Grand Slam with Wacholder after losing a match to a team from Belgium. "We have now played nine matches in seven days and will have two more tomorrow."

As Turner and Wacholder continue their bid for a possible Beijing 2008 Olympic berth as they compete against three other teams for the second American spot in August Summer Games in the Chinese capital, Latvia's Inguna Minusa and Inese Jursone helped themselves by qualifying for the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Main Draw Tuesday.

By not qualifying for last week's SWATCH stop in the French capital, Minusa and Jursone fell in the Olympic rankings as Georgia's Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins moved ahead of the Latvians on the top 24 list with a ninth-place finish in Paris. With three of the five teams ahead of Minusa and Jursone on the Olympic qualifying list losing in Tuesday's qualifier, the Latvians will have a chance to better their ranking by winning at least three Main Draw matches Wednesday and Thursday.

Minusa and Jursone eliminated Mika Teru Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara of Japan 21-16 and 21-15 in their final ConocoPhillips Grand Slam qualifying match Tuesday as the Japanese pair is currently ranked 22nd with 1,620 points for Beijing for their best eight finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since the start of the process in May 2007.

Also losing in Tuesday's qualifier were Simone Kuhn/Lea Schwer of Switzerland (21st for Beijing with 1,650 points) and the Nystrom twins (Emilia and Ericka) of Finland (1,450). Minusa and Jursone have compiled 1,440 points for the best eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour placements.

The teams of Santanna/Martins (23rd for Beijing with 1,600 points) and France's Morgane Faure/Virginie Sarpaux (24th, 1,500) helped their quest of improving their Olympic totals with two qualifying wins each Tuesday. A total of 24 teams will make up the field for Beijing with a limited of two teams per country with at least one tandem from each of the five FIVB confederations (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America).

Other qualifying teams Tuesday were Merel Mooren/Rebekka Kadijk of the Netherlands, Annie Martin/Dana Cooke of Canada and Maria Antonelli/Vanilda Le