Defending Goodwill Champs Open With Win - Top-Ranked Brazilians Impressive

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Jan Kvalheim and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway, the defending Goodwill Games men's beach volleyball champions, scored a 15-13 win over Julien Prosser and Leo Zahner of Australia here Wednesday (July 22) in the opening match for both teams in the 1998 Goodwill Games.

Kvalheim and Maaseide, the third-ranked team on the FIVB Tour, rallied from a 10-8 deficit to tie the match at 10-all with Prosser and Zahner.  With the teams still tied at 13-all, the 1994 Goodwill winners scored the last two points to win.

Guilherme Marques and Para Ferreira of Brazil, the top-rated team on the 1998 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, opened with an impressive 15-2 win over the United States' Ricci Luyties (San Diego) and Sinjin Smith (Pacific Palisades, Calif.).

The Brazilians jumped to an 11-0 lead before Luyties and Smith scored their first point. Guilherme and Para's win set up a 6:45 p.m. (EDT) meeting Thursday against the United States' Adam Johnson and Karch Kiraly at Wollman Rink.   The match will feature the two unbeaten teams in Group A.

Kiraly (San Clemente, Calif.), who won a Gold Medal in the inaugural beach volleyball competition at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and Johnson (Laguna Beach, Calif.) scored a 15-8 win over John Child and Mark Heese of Canada in a Group A match.

In Wednesday's first match, Argentina's Martin Conde and Esteban Martinez ran off seven-straight points in the match against Martin and Paul Laciga of Switzerland to take a commanding 13-5 lead enroute to a 15-6 win.  Thursday's opening match will also feature unbeaten teams as Kvalheim and Maaseide play Conde and Martinez at 12 p.m. on the Wollman Rink court.