Latvia serves up US upset

Latvia served up the first upset of the men's Olympic beach volleyball yesterday, toppling the US favourites and world champions, while a new Brazilian women's pairing found their feet after an early scare. Latvia's Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs...

Latvia served up the first upset of the men's Olympic beach volleyball yesterday, toppling the US favourites and world champions, while a new Brazilian women's pairing found their feet after an early scare.

Latvia's Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs, ranked 21 of 24, beat US team Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers 21-19 21-18 in what Samoilovs called "the best match in our career".

Rogers and Dalhausser, the tallest player at 2.06 metres, are hotly tipped for a medal in Beijing, where the crowd went wild for beach volleyball's high-energy atmosphere of blaring rock music and dancing girls.

They return to the sand tomorrow for the second pool match. Earlier, defending champions Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego of Brazil sailed through their first match.

In the women's draw, Ana Paula Connelly took some time to shake off the jetlag, having arrived in Beijing on Friday as a last minute replacement for injured Juliana Felisberta da Silva.

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