Kristiansand, Norway, August 10, 2010 - With four of the top eight-seeded teams advancing as expected, Beach Volleyball pairs from Canada, Finland, Mexico and Sweden posted seed-break-throughs here Tuesday during the women's Qualification Tournament at the US$380,000 Otera Open as the SWATCH FIVB World Tour returns to this southern Norwegian resort city for the fourth-straight year.

Tuesday's 34-team qualifier determined the last eight spots for Wednesday's opening Main Draw rounds in the double-elimination tournament that concludes Saturday for women when the gold medal finalists will be seeking the $30,000 first-place prize in the 11th of 15 stops on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar where Brazilian pairs have won seven of the previous 10 stops.

Posting seeded break throughs Tuesday to reach the "money"  rounds were 14th-seeded Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova of the Slovak Republic, 23rd-seeded Rivia Oliveira/Nora Tawhid of Sweden, 24th-seeded Heather Bansley/Elizabeth Maloney of Canada, and 28th-seeded Jamie Broder/Liz Cordonier of Canada.

Tuesday's successful qualifying effort for the two Canadian teams and the Slovak Republic pair marked their first advancement to a SWATCH FIVB World Tour Main Draw for their partnerships. Highlighting Broder and Cordonier's achievement was a 17-21, 21-17 and 15-10 opening victory Tuesday in 48 minutes over fifth-seeded Tamsin Barnett Hinchley and Natalie Cook, who competed together in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games for Australia.

Advancing as expected to Wednesday's 32-match schedule were top-seeded Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima of Brazil, second-seeded Zara Dampney/Shauna Mullin of Great Britain, fourth-seeded Isabelle Forrer/Joana Heidrich of Switzerland and sixth-seeded Rieke Brink-Abeler/Angelina Grun of Germany.

Vivian and Lima, who avenged a Country Quota setback to Vanilda Leao and Angela Vieira at last week's Polish Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, will now be seeking to match their "final four" finish two weeks ago in Austria where the Brazilians won 10-straight matches before losing the gold medal match to compatriots Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca.

Led by two-time Olympian Ingrid Torlen, Norway will have three teams in Wednesday's competition. Torlen, who has placed second and fourth in the past two Otera Opens with Nila Ann Hakedal, will be playing Wednesday with Vilde Solvoll. Other pairs in the "money" rounds are Ragnhild Aas/Janne Kongshavn and Mari Bergum Berget/Kjersti Hansen.