Second-seeded Tan Jia and Wang Jie of China failed to secure
their second straight title of the FIVB World Tour 2007 after being
defeated by Brazil's Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro in the
women's beach volleyball Singapore Open on Sunday.
The third-seeded Talita and Renata scored a 21-15 and 21-19 win
in 43 minutes over the Chinese pairing to clinch the inaugural
Singapore Open gold medal.
This was the eighth meeting between the two teams since the
start of the 2006 FIVB season as each side has won four matches
till now.
"I did not combine well with my teammate and we were controlled
by the rivals on the court. That is the reason of failure," the
22-year-old Wang Jie said after the final.
In the fight for the bronze medal, fourth-seeded Xue Chen and
Zhang Xi of China performed well to defeat top-seeded Juliana
Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 21-18, 21-9.
"We are very happy with the result," said the 18-year-old Xue
Chen after the win, "they are much experienced but we took it set
by set and we won."
The four-day Singapore Open, which concluded on Sunday, is the
second of four women's FIVB World Tour events in Asia this
season.
South Korea hosts next week's event in Seoul with the final
women's international beach volleyball event of 2007 being play in
Thailand for the second-straight year during the first week of
November.
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2007)