Brazil Claims Second Goodwill Beach Volleyball Gold

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Brazil claimed its second Gold medal in beach volleyball here Sunday (August 2) at Wollman Rink in Central Park as Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar captured the women competition by defeating the Australians Pauline Manser and Kerri Pottharst 12-9 and 12-5.

Bede and Behar, the top-ranked team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, shared the $30,000 first-place prize by winning the 76-minute match while the fourth-seeded Manser and Pottharst split $20,000 for second-place.

Winners of all five of their 1998 Goodwill Games matches, Bede and Behar have now won all seven of their matches against the Aussies this season.  The Brazilians scored a 15-9 win here Thursday over Manser and Pottharst in Group A play.

The win was the Brazilians seventh FIVB title, including their third of the 1998 season after winning in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last March and in Vasto, Italy last month.  It was the second- time this season Manser and Pottharst have dropped a championship match to the Brazilians after losing the title sets in Rio.

Second-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak of the United States claimed the Bronze medal in the 1998 Goodwill Games Sunday defeating Laura Bruschini and Annamarie Solazzi of Italy 12-11 and 12-3 in 72 minutes to share $15,000 for finishing third in the FIVB-sanctioned event.  The Italians, who posted their best ever finish in a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event, split $11,000 for fourth-place.

In Saturday's first playoff match at Wollman Rink, Eva Celbova and Sona Dosoudilova of the Czech Republic netted seventh-place in the 1998 Goodwill Games by rallying to defeat Canadians Kristine Drakich and Guylaine Dumont 16-14.  Celbova and Dosoudilova shared $5,000 for finishing seventh while the Canadians split $4,000.

In Saturday's final playoff match for fifth-place, Germany's Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch rallied for a 16-14 win over fifth-seeded Karolyn Kirby (Brookline, Mass./San Diego) and Liz Masakayan (San Diego).  The USA pair had won the inaugural women's Goodwill Games beach volleyball title in 1994 at St. Petersburg, Russia.  The third-seeded Friedrichsen and Musch split $8,000 for fifth while Kirby and Masakayan split $7,000.

All eight Goodwill Games teams head to Japan for next week's (August 5-9) FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in Osaka.  The FIVB tour remains in Asia for a China stop August 12-16 in Dalian.  The United States women return home for the $100,000 Del Mar Open near San Diego, Calif., August 28-30.  The domestic event will be the inaugural event staged by the newly-created American Volleyball League.