Olympic hopefuls compete at Women's Moscow 2008 Grand Slam

With this week's US$600,000 Moscow 2008 Grand Slam being the next to last qualifying event for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Tuesday's preliminary rounds for the SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop featured several matches where women's Beach Volleyball teams were seeking to improve their chances for August's Summer Games in the Chinese capital.

Although the "official" entry list for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games must to certified by several groups after the final qualifying event July 15-20 in Marseille, France, the Moscow 2008 Grand Slam is the last "major" stop were additional points for each placement are available ranging from 24 points for 41st-place to 800 points for a gold medal finish. At "open" FIVB events like Marseille, 600 points is awarded for placing first and 18 points for 41st-place.

Teams starting play Tuesday with Olympic hopes sill "alive" were Morgane Faure/Virginie Sarpaux of France, Cristine "Saka" Santanna/Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins of Georgia, Inguna Minusa/Inese Jursone of Latvia, Annie Martin/Dana Cooke of Canada, Diane Pascua/Heidi Ilustre of the Philippines, Lucilla Perrotta/Daniela Gattelli of Italy, Shinako Tanaka/Eiko Koizumi of Japan, Sarah Maxwell/Marie-Andree Lessard of Canada and Hana Klapalova/Tereza Petrova of the Czech Republic.

With Saka and Rtvelo in the last of 24 provisional spots for the Beijing Olympics with a 40-point lead over Mexico's Bibiana Candelas and Mayra Garcia, the Georgians missed an opportunity to improve their Summer Games qualifying total by dropping a 14-21, 21-19 and 15-10 decision Karin Lundquist and Angelica Ljungquist as the Swedish pair posted two upset wins Tuesday.

While Saka and Rtevlo needed to advance to Friday's 24-team single-elimination bracket by finishing at least third in a Main Draw pool, Candelas and Garcia will gain 20 points when Moscow 2008 Grand Slam group play starts Thursday and can add another 80 points with at least a third-place in their pool.

In Tuesday's head-to-head meetings with Olympic hopefuls, Minusa and Jursone scored a 21-17, 18-21 and 18-16 elimination win in 49 minutes over Klapalova and Petrova while Perrotta and Gattelli ousted Pascua and Ilustre's bid for Moscow 2008 Grand Slam "money" round berth with a 21-17 and 21-19 victory in 44 minutes.

The Latvians are 160 points behind Saka and Rtvelo with 1,440 points for their best eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour finishes since the start of the Beijing process in May 2007. Minusa and Jursone need to place ninth or higher this week to improve their Olympic qualifying total. Perrotta and Gattelli are 480 points behind the Georgians and will improve their Beijing total by reaching the elimination rounds.

Faure and Sarpaux, who have failed to improve their Olympic chances at the last seven SWATCH FIVB World Tour events the past eight weeks, advanced from Tuesday's qualifier with a win over a team from the Netherlands. The French must place ninth or higher this week to add points to their current total of 1,500.

Martin and Cooke won two matches Tuesday to advance to the Moscow 2008 Grand Slam Main Draw as the Canadians improved their Olympic qualifying total by 20 points to 1,200 and 400 points behind the Georgians. Canadian compatriots Maxwell and Lessard saw their Beijing bid harmed by losing 21-19 and 24-22 in 54 minutes to Brazilians Maria Antonelli and Vanilda Le