Nadine Zumkehr (left) and Joana Heidrich celebrate a point for Switzerland in their Olympic win Sunday over a German team.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 7, 2016 - For the second-straight day of women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball, a team from Switzerland was the central figure in seed-break-through marches at the Rio 2016 “Summer” Games on iconic Copacabana.
On the opening day schedule for the sixth edition of Beach Volleyball at the Olympic Games, a Swiss team was upset by a Chinese pair. Here Sunday evening at the “Coliseu on Copacabana”, 17th-seeded Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr erased the disappointing start for Switzerland by posting a dominating 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) Pool E win in 38 minutes over eighth-seeded Karla Borger and Britta Buthe of Germany.
In a Pool C match that started late Saturday (11:11 p.m.) and ended early Sunday (12:21 a.m.), 17th-seeded Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland dropped a 2-1 (24-22, 18-21, 15-12) decision to 15th-seeded Fan Wang and Yuan Yue of China.
With their second win in five international meetings with German BBs (Borger and Buthe), Heidrich and Zumkehr will meet fifth-seeded Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan of Canada Tuesday for the Pool E leadership. The Canadians opened play Sunday with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) Pool E win in 39 minutes over 20th-seeded Jantine van der Vlist and Sophie van Gestel of The Netherlands.
In other women’s action, top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca of Brazil and 12th-seeded Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska of Poland posted Pool A wins. Talita and Larissa opened Olympic play in their home country by defeating 24th-seeded Ekaterina Birlova and Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) in 34 minutes while the Poles out-lasted 13th-seeded Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat of the United States 2-1 (14-21, 21-13, 15-7) in 45 minutes.
Pool D action featured wins by fourth-seeded Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany and 16th-seeded Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas of Canada. Playing teams that were competing in their first FIVB international events together, Ludwig and Walkenhorst scored a 2-0 (2-12, 21-15) win in 34 minutes over 21st-seeded Doaa Elghobashy/Nada Meawad of Egypt while the Canadians were 2-1 (15-21, 21-18, 15-9) victors in 60 minutes over ninth-seeded Laura Giombini/Marta Menegatti of Italy.