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Hot beach!
Agencies/Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-15 14:17
BEIJING -- Chinese beach volleyball duo Tian Jia/Wang Jie advanced to top eight Friday at the Beijing Olympic Games.
They also made history for China, whose best finish at the Olympics was ninth place, made by Tian and her then partner Wang Fei at Athens Games.
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China's Wang Jie dives for the ball as teammate Tian Jia (R) watches during match against Nila Haakedlal and Ingrid Toerlen (L) of Norway during their women's preliminary round beach volleyball match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 15, 2008. [Agencies]
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Tian/Wang beat Norwegian opponents Nila Ann Hakedal/Ingrid Torlen in two straight sets 21-13, 21-15.
"I'm so happy about the victory. We didn't play so well in the preliminaries matches, but we have walked past the difficulties," said the 1.87-meter Wang after the match.
"We'll be relaxed in the next match as we have achieved our goal," she added.
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Norway's Nila Ann Hakedal dives to return the ball to China's team in their women's round of 16 beach volleyball match at Beijing's Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground on August 15, 2008 during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. China won 2-0. [Agencies]
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"We did our best in the match. We congratulate the Chinese team. They played very well," said Norway's Torlen after the match.
"I wish them all the best in the next matches," she added.
While Tian is for the third time at the Olympics, Wang made her Olympics debut.
The Chinese duo has won three FIVB World Tour gold medals and placed second on the Beijing Olympics qualification rankings.
They are to play quarterfinal on Sunday against the winners of the round of 16 match between German pair Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig and Austrian duo Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger.