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| *The
16th PIA All Japan College Beach Volleyball Cup |
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The 16th
PIA All Japan College Beach Volleyball Cup took place in Kobe
from
31 July-1 August. The event is the deciding tournament for the best
University teams in the country, and this year's contest was won
by Kanoya
National Institute of Fitness and Sports (men) and Tokyo's Women's
College
of Physical Education.
Exhibition matches featured pro players such
as Kentaro Asahi and Koichi
Nishimura of Beach Winds, Katsutoshi Tshumagari of SUNTORY SUNBIRDS
and
Hiroyuki Kai of SAKAI BLAZERS. The high level of play delighted
the crowd
and DJ Yuji Yamamoto explained the significance of the Ecoflag
Movement to
all those present. |
| *SWATCH-FIVB
World Tour 2004 Japan Open |
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| The SWATCH-FIVB World Tour
2004 Japan Open (women) took place on 2-6 June at the Osaka Sennan
Satoumi Beach Volleyball Stadium. 32 women’s teams took part,
with three pairs (Tokuno/ Kusahara, Saiki/ Urada, Tanaka/ Makabe)
representing Japan. The Saiki/ Urada team are GSA Navigators and
they ranked highest of the Japanese teams in seventh place.
Announcements were made throughout the competition, explaining
the significance of the Ecoflag and asking spectators to separate
garbage or take it home. The International Volleyball Federation
(FIVB) has been taking part in the Ecoflag Movement since last
year, flying the Ecoflag on the World Tour under the slogan ‘Keep
the beach clean-Think environment!’
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The flag was flying prominently
at the Osaka Open, making a strong impression on the stadium and
television audiences. Weather conditions proved excellent, despite
rain warnings on the second day of the final rounds (last years
event was hit by a typhoon, although it lucky passed quickly).
Brazil’s Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil beat Natalie
Cook and Nicole Sanderson of Australia in the final and enjoyed
the kind of support you usually only find at a home game. The Australian
pair on the other hand, fought some tough competition on their
way to the final, unfortunately aggravating some injuries on the
way. Mindful of the road to Athens that lies ahead, Cook (a gold
medallist at Sydney 2000) is looking forward to a few days off
before the next onslaught.
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| RESULTS |
1st Shelda Bede/ Adriana Behar (Brazil) |
2nd Natalie Cook/ Nicole Sanderson (Australia) |
3rd Nicole Schnyder-Benoit/ Simone Kuhn (Switzerland) |
| *Koichi
Nishimura's report from Brazil |
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Report
from Brazil
We are at a training camp in Brazil, receiving two months excellent
coaching before returning to Japan on 20 April.
Today we held an unofficial tournament of eight teams (five
representing Brazil, as well as one each from Japan, Italy
and Slovakia), which we called the ‘Ecoflag Tournament’.
We got the sponsors to agree and a ‘cleanup’ was
held after the event.
We came second in the tournament. After playing Brazil #3,
Slovakia and Brazil #2, we narrowly lost to Brazil#1 in the
final. We are steadily getting stronger and hope this year
will be a turning point for us.
Koichi Nishimura
BEACHWINDS
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| *King
and Queen of the Beach - Beach Volleyball in Brazil
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The Ecoflag was flying at the King and Queen of the Beach,
beach volleyball
event in Brazil last week. Beach volleyball is hugely popular
in Brazil and
a great oppportunity for increasing environmental awareness
and action.
Paper, glass and can recycing activities took place with
children joining in
to learn about proper garbage and recycling practises.
The photos shows the winning American pair, Kerry Walsh and
Misty May, who
collected five World Tour titles on the Swatch-FIVB World
Tour last year and
Brazilian team member Giovani. |
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