Rio de Janeiro, August 7, 2016 – Switzerland’s Nadine Zumkehr and Joana Heidrich began their Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games campaign by beating Germany’s Karla Borger and Britta Buthe 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) at the Copacabana Beach Arena on Sunday.
Here’s what they said after the match….
Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland
“It feels great, it is an incredible arena and I had a lot of fun out there. We knew that the first game is hard, it is not easy to start well in this tournament. We tried not to expect the best game ever and I think that helped us play pretty good.
“Everyone is nervous and everyone wants to show their best and that puts you under a bit of pressure and we handled that pretty well and that was the key. You want to go out there and play your best and you know you are going to be a little bit nervous, but I think the key is to not expect your best.
“She (Joana Heidrich) was very nervous before the game, but I’m really proud of how she handled it. She began with great blocks which helped her confidence.”
Karla Borger, Germany
“We needed too long to start playing and that wasn’t our level of playing. We missed so many balls, which is unusual for us, but at least we know we can improve.
“I hoped in the second that we could be closer and put on more pressure, but we didn’t put any pressure on them, so it was an easy game for them.”
Britta Buthe, Germany
“For sure there are things we can do a lot better and we must talk to our coach to fix some things. I think we are going to learn from this game and not just wipe it off. We’ll start from there and the tournament is still long.”