Heese keeps his Olympic dream alive

(BEIJING, June 26) -- Canadian tandem of Ahren Cadieux and Mark Heese won Wednesday's Main Draw competition of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, thus improving their standings on the Olympic qualification list.

The Canadian pair ranks fourth in the qualifier. By winning Wednesday's match, they now have an improved opportunity of 'making it to Beijing'. Cadieux and Heese currently hold a total of 1880 points for Olympic qualification, 40 points behind the Chinese pair of Shun Zhou and Jian Li.

Now with Zhou and Li eliminated by Danish 14-seeded Bo Soderberg and Anders Lund Hoyer, and the Canadians posting a 20-22, 21-16 and 20-18 win over 12-seeded Pedro Rosas and Jose Pedrosa of Portugal, Cadieux and Heese see a better chance of surpassing Zhou and Li by 100 points on the Olympic qualifying list if they finish ninth or higher this time around in Stavanger.

Also, the Canadians may benefit from second-seeded Latvians Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs being ousted 21-19, 19-21 and 15-11 on Wednesday. The Latvians have up to now gained a total of 2020 points, 140 points ahead of the Canadian pair.

If Heese qualifies for the Beijing Olympic Games, this will be his fourth Olympic appearance. He finished third, fifth and fifth in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens respectively.