Olympic dreams could be shattered in smart Hamburg Major women’s qualifier

Hamburg, Germany, June 6, 2016 – It is not often that a FIVB World Tour qualifier can impact a team’s dreams of Olympic grandeur, but that will be the case here Tuesday for women’s Beach Volleyball pairs from China and Russia when the two tandems compete in the preliminary rounds of the US$800,000 smart Hamburg Major at the Am Rothenbaum stadium.

For the team of Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova, winning is the only thing as the Russian pair must advance from Tuesday’s qualifier to the inaugural smart Hamburg Major Main Draw to maintain an opportunity to net one of the 15 spots available for the FIVB World Tour for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

After placing fourth at last week’s European Championships in Switzerland, Birlova and Ukolova remain 150 points out of the No. 15 spot with 3,950 points for their best 12 international finishes since the start of the Rio qualifying process in April 2015.  Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Georgia Klug, who have already qualified for the smart Hamburg Major “money” rounds, are listed 15th with 4,100 points.

For the team of Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, winning their qualifying match Tuesday is not essential as the Chinese pair is No. 14 on the Rio list with 4,150 points with a 50-point lead over the Argentineans and 200-point advantage for over Russians.  However, if Wang and Yue do not advance from the …

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