Host China scored two victories in preliminary round matches in the Beijing Olympics beach volleyball tournament on Sunday as men's duo Wu Penggen/Xu Linyin and women's pair Zhang Xi/Xue Chen each defeated their rivals.
Xu/Wu, the first Chinese men's beach volleyball team appearing in the Olympics, beat Austrian rivals Florian Gosch/Alexander Horst 2-0 in a Group A match.
The Chinese are to play against Estonia's Kristjan Kais/Rivo Vesik, whose Olympic qualification ranking is much higher than that of the Austrian duo on August 12.
In another match in the group, Pablo Herrera/Raul Mesa of Spain beat Kristjan Kais/Rivo Vesik of Estonia 2-0. Herrera was Athens Games silver medalist, pairing with another player.
In men's Group D, Brazil's Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes outscored Eugenio Amore/Ricardo Lione of Italy 2-0 (21-18,21-18). In another match in the group, Clemens Doppler/Peter Gartmayer of Austria won over Dmitri Barsouk/Igor Kolodinsky of Russia 2-1.
In Group F, German pair Julius Brink/Christoph Dieckmann cruised to a victory over Japan's Kentaro Asahi/Katsuhiro Shiratori in two straight sets. Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal of the United States also defeated their rivals, the Netherlands' Emiel Boersma/Bram Ronnes 2-0.
In the women's section, Zhang Xi/Xue Chen, the fourth placed pair on the Olympic qualification ranking, squeezed through a Greek pair 2-1 in a match in Group D.
In another Group D match, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig of Germany beat Judith Augoustides/Vitalila Nel of South Africa 2-0.
In Group B, defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh thrashed Japan's Mika Teru Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara in two straight sets 21-12, 21-15. In another match in the group, Dalixia Grasset/Tamara Peraza of Cuba won over Nila Hakedal/Ingrid Torlen of Norway 2-0.
In Group F, Brazil's Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro, winners of five FIVB World Tour gold medals, bounced back after the loss of the first set, beating Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia of Mexico 2-1.
Also in the group, Doris Schwaiger and Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria defeated Vassiliki Arvaniti/Vasso Karadassiou of Greece 2-0.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)