Chinese beach volleyball perform well in Singapore Open

The second-seeded Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China beat Karadassiou-Arvaniti of Greece 2-0 after defeating Singapore's Phang-Tan 2-0 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Chen Xue and Zhang Xi of China downed Martin-Cooke of Canada and Teru Saiki-Kusuhara of Japan respectively.

On Friday, Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China will be first challenged by the seventh-seeded Rau and Stephanie Pohl of Germany, who won the 2006 European Championship Tour points title, while Chen Xue and Zhang Xi of China will begin their play with the fifth-seeded Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen of Norway.

A total of 32 teams from 19 countries and regions are participating in the inaugural Singapore Open, the second qualifying event for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The Singapore Open, which will conclude on Sunday, is the second of four women's SWATCH-FIVB World Tour events in Asia this season.