Birlova & Ukolova seeking a 100-point improvement in Sochi

Sochi, Russia, May 1, 2016 – As London 2012 Olympians Ekaterina Birlova and Evgeniya Ukolova bid for another berth in the 2016 quadrennial event to be held in less than 100 days on iconic Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, the Russian pair needs to erase a past finish on the FIVB World Tour with a medal performance this week at the US$150,000 Sochi Open.

With eight Russian women’s pairs entered in the event led by Birlova and Ukolova, the Sochi Open has attracted 103 women’s and men’s teams from 35 countries for the second annual event to be held on the “Sport Inn” courts.  The Black Sea coastal resort tournament is the first of two events in the Eurasian country this month with Moscow staging a Grand Slam May 24-29.

SOCHI LAST SEPTEMBER

With the FIVB World Tour returning to the Black Sea coastal resort for the second-time in the last eight months, Birlova and Ukolova are hoping for a better finish this time after placing ninth at the September Sochi stop where the Russians won their pool, but dropped their opening elimination match to Finland’s Riikka Lehtonen and Taru Lahti 2-1 (21-16, 15-21, 13-15) in a 60-minute match on the Sport Inn center court.

Entering Sochi after placing ninth in their last FIVB World Tour stop in China where all three of their Fuzhou losses were to higher-rated teams on the international circuit, Birlova and Ukolova are listed 16th (3,830 points for their 12 best qualifying finishes) on the Rio 2016 provisional Olympic ranking grid.  The Russians trail Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug and Argentina (3,930 points) by 100 points.

STRIKING DISTANCE

Birlova and Ukolova are also within striking distance of No. 13 Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland (4,120 points) and No. 14 Fan Wang/Yuan Yue of China (4,090).  All three of the Russian’s rivals will be in Sochi this week as each team has to reach the quarter-finals to improve their qualifying point …

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