Date:20/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/20/stories/2008072056051700.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Feitosa & Correa enter men’s final

Karthik Krishnaswamy

BEACH VOLLEYBALL / Tomatis-Zaytsev also make it

— Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

TOUGH BATTLE: Brazil’s Luizao Correa (right) tries to block Canada’s Chris Simek’s smash in the Chennai Challenger beach volleyball championship on Saturday.

Chennai: No onomatopoeic word can do justice to the sound of the ball striking a spiker’s arm, and an instant later, rebounding off a blocker. That sound repeatedly punctuated the roar of the crowd during both the men’s semifinals of the BSNL-FIVB Chennai Challenger beach volleyball championships on Saturday, as the enthralled weekend audience’s eyes went back and forth, back and forth, from one side of the net to the other.

Brazil’s Klepper Feitosa and Luizao Correa won the first semifinal against the Canadian pair of Jason Kruger and Chris Simek 22-20, 21-17, both pairs slugging it out all the way.

Klepper, massive-shouldered and pigtailed, was the crowd favourite, belying his bulk by lunging at, and retrieving lost causes, making slam-dunk smashes, and geeing up the crowd with warlike gestures when the points were won.

Luizao’s blocking, however, was what separated the two pairs, springing up from a watchful, froglike crouch to meet the Canadians’ smashes with outstretched arms.

Hard-fought win

They will meet Italy’s Andrea Tomatis and Ivan Zaytsev in Sunday’s final. They came through an epic semifinal against Americans Mike Dipierro and Mark van Zweiten, 32-30, 15-21, 15-12.

The Italians looked dominant in the early exchanges, Zaytsev pounding van Zweiten, with powerful smashes straight at the body.

The scoreline, however, remained close, the Americans focussing on the task at hand, making use of every opening. The ambidextrous Dipierro scored a number of crucial points with diagonal drop shots into vacant spaces.

It then went one way, then the other, until, at 30-all, Dipierro took his eyes off the ball, which went spinning off his forearm to his right, well wide of the net. Tomatis sealed the set with a spike that Dipierro could do nothing about.

The Americans found their groove in the next set, Dipierro setting up perfectly for van Zweiten to unleash fearsome spikes.

But the Italians regrouped again in the final set and sealed it to the accompaniment of thunderous applause from the Centre Court crowd.

The results:

Men (semifinals): Klepper & Luizao (Brazil) bt Kruger & Simek (Canada) 22-20, 21-17; Tomatis & Zaytsev (Italy) bt Dipierro & Van Zweiten (USA) 32-30, 15-21, 15-12.

Elimination round 5: Dipierro & Van Zweiten (USA) bt Nausch & Steinöker (Austria) 21-14, 21-10; Kruger & Simek (Canada) bt Garcia & Martin (Spain) 21-17, 21-14.

Round 4: Tomatis & Zaytsev (Italy) bt Kruger & Simek (Canada) 24-22, 21-8; Klepper & Luizao (Brazil) bt Dipierro & van Zweiten (USA) 21-19, 21-17.

Women: Elimination round 4: Zur & Rodriguez (Israel) bt Pemmer & Klopf (Austria) 21-16, 21-12; Gschweidl & Hansel (Austria) bt Radarong & Udomchavee (Thailand) 21-15, 21-15.

Elimination round 3: Zur & Rodriguez (Israel) bt Chater & Rossignol (France) 21-14, 21-12; Radarong & Udomchavee (Thailand) bt Shun Thing & Iswari (Malaysia) 21-19, 21-17.

Round 3: Kulna & Phokongploy (Thailand) bt Gschweidl & Hansel (Austria) 21-12, 21-18; Sannok & Tenpaksee (Thailand) bt Pemmer & Klopf (Austria) 21-18, 21-18.