The Filipino-American beach volleyball duo Heidi Illustre and Diane Pascua rammed into a bigger and bolder version of themselves, losing in straight sets to Norway's Kathrine Maaseide and Susanne Glesnes in the Round of 32 of the World Beach Volleyball Championships in Gstaad, Switzerland.

The Norwegian tandem, seeded 22nd, scored a 21-16, 21-13 victory to turn back Illustre and Pascua in 37 minutes. Maaseide and Glesnes advanced to the Round of 16 against a Chinese pair.

After making history as the first Philippine pair to make the prestigious tournament, Illustre and Pascua ended their campaign with two victories and two losses. The Fil-Am pair, however had something to build upon as one of their two wins came at the expense of highly-rated Australian pair of Natalie Cook and Tamsin Barnett, 20-22, 21-16, 15-13, before they downed Erika Nystrom and Emily Nystrom of Finland, 25-23, 21-15.

Illustre and Pascua saw action in Bacolod in December 2005 in the Southeast Asian Games, where they bagged a bronze medal in their first campaign for the Philippines. They are gunning for a slot in the Beijing Olympics next year. *CPT

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