Defending Champions Upset in Thursday's Opening Goodwill Games Men's Beach Volleyball Match

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Martin Conde and Esteban Martinez of Argentina rallied from a 14-13 deficit to upset the Goodwill Games' defending champions Jan Kvalheim and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway 16-14 in a battle of unbeaten teams in Group B here Thursday (July 23) in 1998 Goodwill Games men's beach volleyball competition at Wollman Rink in the Central Park.

Following the match, the Wollman Rink court was under a rain-delay with teams from the United States (Ricci Luyties/Sinjin Smith) and Canada (John Child/Mark Heese) waiting to play Thursday's second match.

The 79-minute, 105-sideout match saw the Argentina tandem take an 11-9 lead 56 minutes into the match before Kvalheim and Maaseide, the third-ranked team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, rallied to take a 14-13 edge with 63 minutes gone in the match.

Conde and Martinez, who won an FIVB 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.

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 another battle of unbeaten teams in Group A.

Thursday's other match has Martin and Paul Laciga of Switzerland playing Julien Prosser and Leo Zahner of Australia in a Group B round-robin match at 5:30 p.m.