Johnson/Kiraly Face Top-Ranked Brazilians in Beach Volleyball Finale

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Two of the world's best men's beach volleyball tandems will fight it out for the 1998 Goodwill Games Gold medal here Sunday (July 26) when Adam Johnson and Karch Kiraly of the United States challenge Brazilians Guilherme Marques and Para Ferreira for the $30,000 first-place prize at Wollman Rink.

The Goodwill Games competition starts at 12 p.m. (EDT) Sunday at Wollman Rink in Central Park with the Bronze medal match.  The Gold medal match will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the third-place competition.

The Johnson/Kiraly tandem advanced to the finals with scored a 12-2 and 12-10 win over Australians Julien Prosser and Leo Zahner in a 77-minute semi-final match Saturday.  The Americans led from the start to win the first set easily.   Prosser and Zahner made a match of it in the second set by tying Johnson and Kiraly at 9s and 10s.

Guilherme and Para, the top-ranked team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, downed Martin Conde and  Esteban Martinez of Argentina 12-5 and 12-10 in a 79-minute semi-final contest.  The Brazilians led from the start in each match as Conde and Martinez made it interesting in the second set after trailing 11-4.

The Brazilians downed Johnson and Kiraly 15-3 Thursday in Group A play. Guilherme and Para are they only unbeaten team in the 1998 Goodwill Games posting a 3-0 record in round-robin play along with Saturday's victory over their South Ameircan rivals.  Johnson and Kiraly are 3-1 this week, including a 2-1 pool play mark.

Both medal matches feature the FIVB's Format B with two out of three sets to 12 points.  The first two sets must be won with a minimum lead of two points with a point limit at 12-point cap.  The deciding set will feature the rally scoring system to 12 points with a minimum lead of two points.  There is no point cap for the deciding set.

Norway's Jan Kvalheim and Bjorn Maaseide scored a 15-13 win over John Child and Mark Heese of Canada to capture fifth-place earlier Saturday at Wollman Rink.  The Norwegians, who won the 1994 Goodwill Games Gold medal in St. Petersburg, Russia, shared the $8,000 purse for fifth-place while Child and Heese, the Bronze medalists at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, split $7,000 for sixth.

The Laciga Brothers (Martin and Paul) of Switzerland scored a 15-7 win over Ricci Luyties and Sinjin Smith of the United States to earn seventh-place in the competition.  The Swiss split $5,000 while Luyties and Smith shared $4,000.