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Lucky losers Americans' luck continues with forfeit victory
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong may be the luckiest losers of the Olympic Games. The U.S. beach volleyball team reached the quarterfinals on Friday via forfeit when their Mexican opponents dropped out due to injury. That means the seventh-seeded team that lost its opening match, then lost its second consolation match but still advanced on point differential as the so-called "lucky loser," has reached the final eight of the men's competition. The forfeit victory prevents them from taking the court against the 24th-seeded Mexicans amid questions over whether they intentionally lost their second consolation match to get a better draw. Even the president of the FIVB, the international volleyball federation, conceded Thursday the system for choosing four teams from 12 first-round losers to advance to the final 16 included a circumstance in which a second loss became an advantage. "We never thought that this could create some doubts about the results of a game," Ruben Acosta of FIVB said. "It seems that happened." The Mexican team of Joel Sotelo and Juan Ibarra forfeited due to Sotelo's groin muscle injury, which was aggravated in their first-round upset victory over the top-seeded Australians, Julien Prosser and Lee Zahner. Because Heidger and Wong had the best points differential of the three teams that lost their second consolation matches, they advanced as the "lucky losers." Under the tournament format, the lucky loser automatically was placed at the top of the second-round bracket, presumably to face the No. 1 seed. The other three consolation survivors were paired with the second, third and fourth seeds. When Ibarra and Soleto upset Prosser and Zahner, though, being the lucky loser brought a match with the 24th-seeded team. That circumstance, and the way the Americans lost to Prosser and Zahner on Tuesday, raised questions. Heidger and Wong took control early, surging to a 9-4 lead. Nine points was what they needed to guarantee they had the best points differential and would advance to the second round, win or lose. From that point on, the Australians rebounded in a match they had to win to ensure their survival. The final score was 15-11 for Prosser and Zahner, benefiting both teams and delighting the host nation and volleyball officials eager for continued sellout crowds at the spectacular Bondi Beach venue. Heidger and Wong denied they lost on purpose to face the Mexicans. They said they played hard even though a victory would have drawn them against one of the two favored Brazilian teams or the fourth-seeded Laciga brothers of Switzerland. The Lacigas ousted Prosser and Zahner in morning play Friday in a 15-8 match. Acosta and Sinjin Smith, a longtime player who now heads the FIVB beach volleyball world council, acknowledged that seed jockeying is a part of volleyball, but insisted it had no bearing on the overall outcome. "At the end of the day, the winner will be the best team," Acosta said. Smith said any team playing in the Olympics that knew it had qualified for the next round would take it easy to preserve strength and avoid injury. "If you know you don't have to win, why are you going to kill yourself when you have difficult matches coming up?" he said.
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