Canadian Men Knocked out of Olympic Contention
Canada’s Mark Heese (Toronto, ON) and Ahren Cadieux (Toronto, ON) have failed to qualify for Beijing. The pair needed to place top 10 this week in Marseille, France in the final qualification tournament on the 2008 FIVB World Tour in order to have a chance to qualify but unfortunately came up short, losing to Salvetti/Deulofeu of France 21-23, 19-21 then beating a Kubala/ Dumek of the Czech Republic 21-18, 21-14 but then losing to Kjemperud/Skarland of Norway 16-21, 28-26, 13-15 to finish in 17th place. This ends a disappointing 2008 Olympic Qualification period for Heese and Cadieux as they finished the 2007 season in 19th position. 24 teams have qualified for Beijing based on top 8 results in 2007 and 2008.
Mark Heese, a bronze medalist in Atlanta, was going for his fourth straight Olympics while Ahren Cadieux was shooting for his first Olympics. The pair will now return to Toronto to train for the National Championships, August 29th-31st at Ashbridges Bay in Toronto where Heese is looking for his record 11th National title. Canadian beach volleyball fans in Vancouver can also watch Canada’s future Olympians battle USA professional teams at the Corona Open at Kitsilano Beach this weekend (July 19th and 20th) where teams will be competing for $15,000 prize money.
