Beach volleyball: Seuseu decides life's a beach

By PETER JESSUP

The country's best beach volleyballer, Craig Seuseu, reckons a break from the sport has reinvigorated him and at 32 he's not ruling out a crack at the Olympics.

The Beijing Games, that is, as qualifying for Athens is now too far down the track for him and partner Kirk Pitman to be able to catch up.

"Beijing is a realistic goal for me if the body holds up. I've come back fresh and excited about the sport again and I'm enjoying it," Seuseu said.

In Auckland for the New Zealand Open, which starts at the Stanley Street tennis centre today, Seuseu and Pitman aim to be the first all-Kiwi combo to win the title.

Seuseu won in 2001 with American Nick Hannermann.

He rates his resurrected partnership with Pitman as vastly improved.

They have won two of the four tour events leading up to the nationals and are confident they can match it with top seeds Andy Scheuerpflug and Christoph Dieckmann.

"Probably half the field is capable of beating any team on their day. We rate ourselves right up there," he said.

Scheuerpflug, 36, and ranked 12th in the world, provides inspiration for Seuseu's wistful Olympic dream.

Seuseu had two years off, before which he had reached a career-high world ranking of 18. A top-24 spot is required to make the Olympics and when selection was done for Sydney he was 27th, which he admits was a disappointment.

But after a nine-to-five office job for two years, minor knee surgery, then struggling through the grind of a training comeback three to five hours a day six days a week, he feels as good as ever.

"I thought I'd train ready for the circuit and see what Kirk was up to and if he wanted to play, then I'd drive on."

Seuseu and Pitman, 22, were partners through 2001 and when Seuseu "retired" Pitman spent two years on the world tour with Hayden Jones, the pair winning the 2002 Asian championships.

When they decided to split, Seuseu jumped back in. "Kirk has really improved incredibly," he said.

"He was always a huge talent but he didn't have the composure, it's amazing how much he has progressed."

He rates Jones and his new partner Jason Lockhead, 19, as finals chances, though Seuseu and Pitman hold a 6-1 game advantage on the tour so far.

Also a good chance are last year's runners-up, A. J. Mihalic and Guy Hamilton from the US.

They proved a crowd favourite in 2003, playing the game with plenty of aggression, which typifies the Californian approach to the sport. Also rated are Canadians Wes Montgomery and his world fifth-ranked partner Scott Emslie.

Lucy Todd and Susan Blundell also have a realistic chance of being the first Kiwi women to win after two years together on the world circuit and victory at the New Plymouth event that opened the tour.

Todd plays the game with fierce determination and Blundell has a powerful serving and spiking game.

There will be plenty of interest in the combination of Marnie Grant (Rotorua) and Anna Scarlett (Dunedin). Scarlett had an outstanding sporting year in 2003, being part of the Silver Ferns team who won gold at the world champs in Jamaica.

Germans Martina Stoof and Helke Claasen are the tournament's top seeds, after winning the Mt Maunganui event last weekend.

Several other international teams will pose a threat, including the Swiss combination of Martina Grossen and Mirjam Keller, and the promising Australian duo of Shelley Scott and Fay Avery.

There will also be plenty of interest in the Finn identical twins Emilia and Erika Nystrom. They are the former European junior champions and hope to compete in Athens.

About 120 tonnes of sand has been put on the number one court at Stanley Street for the action, which starts at 2pm today with pool play. The 12 teams are split to four pools of three, winners advancing to quarter-finals on Saturday and semifinals and finals on Sunday live on TV2 from 2pm.