News 20/04/2016 Turkey's Giginoglu & Gogtepe on track at Fuzhou Open Fuzhou, China, April 20, 2016 – Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe from Turkey earn two wins on the first day of pool play at the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Fuzhou Open. The Turkish pair have had a busy year competing in every single stop on the World Tour so far, their best results reaching round two at the Rio Grand Slam and again at the Xiamen Open the week prior to Fuzhou. After beating Venezuela’s Jesus Villafañe and Jackson Henriquez in their opening pool match 2-0 (21-13, 21-19), they then face Armin Dollinger and Lorenz Schümann from Germany. Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe from Turkey face Armin Dollinger and Lorenz Schümann from GermanyThe win for Giginoglu/Gogtepe was not an easy one, the German pair coming back strongly in the second set. The tie breaker was a test of nerves, but the Turkish pair held on for their second win of the day 2-1 (21-11, 20-22, 15-13).“It was a nice game and it’s a new team with good play. It’s the second time we played with this team and second time to win,” said Gogtepe.“The first set was easy but the second set, we were a little bit relaxed after one lucky ball touched the net, but in the third set we concentrated on the job and we won,” said Giginoglu.Giginoglu/Gogtepe are aiming for a top three finish in Fuzhou and the two wins place them second in Pool B behind Canada’s Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton.“We are feeling a little tired after today’s second game, but with two wins we are happy and congratulations to my partner and coach and the other teams we played today. It’s a good feeling. Tomorrow we play Canada for first position in the pool, we will try to win,” said Giginoglu.China rise to challenge on centre A surprise was in store for Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz when they met China’s Likejiang Ha and Jian Bao in their second pool match of the day. The Chinese pair were clearly comfortable and enjoying their match on centre court rustling their Polish opponents and taking an early lead before winning the match 2-0 (21-13, 21-17). China’s Likejiang Ha and Jian Bao from China “This is the World Tour big and even though we have taken part before our victories are few. We really cherish every time we can practice on this scale, if we can win it’s great, but if not we can learn a lot from it, so we are happy. The best thing is that we can win and improve our skills,” said Bao J.“They are a great skilled pair and they are at a higher level than us. We don’t have a lot of chance to take part in the World Tour so we really appreciate this chance very much. We’re very excited because this is our home, so we played out of our expectation. We don’t know how we played like this – we played how we had hoped to,” said Ha Likejiang. “It definitely beneficial for us to play at home, we feel more excited,” said Bao J. The win places the number thirty seeded Ha Likejiang/Bao J. second in their group with one pool match to go. The Chinese pair face Germany’s Stefan Windscheif and Sebastian Fuchs in their final Pool C match. “We will play Germany tomorrow, we hope to play with all of our energy, try our best. Our expectation is low because our ranking is not high. We try our best to compete with them,” said Bao J.Men’s pool play concludes on Thursday April 21 in Fuzhou with the medals decided on Saturday for the men and Sunday for the women. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News