Aussies Score First Beach GWG Win - Group A Unbeatens in Thursday's Final Match

NEW YORK, N. Y. -  Julien Prosser and Leo Zahner of Australia overcame a 6-2 deficit by scoring eight-straight points to take control of the game to down Martin and Paul Laciga of Switzerland 15-13 in a Goodwill Games Group B men's beach volleyball match at Wollman Rink here Thursday (July 23).

Guilherme Marques and Para Ferreira of Brazil, the top-rated team on the 1998 FIVB World Tour, face the United States' Adam Johnson and Karch Kiraly at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at Wollman Rink in a battle of unbeaten teams in Group A.

In Thursday's opening session, Martin Conde and Esteban Martinez of Argentina and Canadians John Child and Mark Heese posted wins at Wollman Rink in the Central Park.

Conde and Martinez lead Group B round-robin play with a 2-0 mark and has a plus-11 point differential heading into Friday's match 12 p.m. match with the Aussies, who are tied for second in the pool with Jan Kvalheim and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway with 1-1 Group B marks. Both second-place teams have a zero-point differential.

Thursday's afternoon session was delayed for 90 minutes due to rain after Conde and Martinez upset Kvalheim and Maaseide 16-14 in a 79-minute, 105-sideout match.  The Argentina tandem took an 11-9 lead 56 minutes into the match before Kvalheim and Maaseide, the defending Goodwill Games beach volleyball champions, rallied to take a 14-13 edge with 63 minutes gone in the match.

Conde and Martinez, who won an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event last month in Toronto, Canada, scored the final three points of the match with a pair of Conde kills sealing the Argentina tandems' 10th win in 18 meetings with Kvalheim and Maaseide.

After the rain-delay, Child and Heese led from the start to down Ricci Luyties (San Diego) and Sinjin Smith (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) of the United States 15-5.  The Canadians won the Bronze Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.