Injury wins Ana Paula place

By Jane Barrett

BEIJING (Reuters) - A knee injury that got the better of Brazilian beach volleyballer Juliana Felisberta da Silva has given Ana Paula Connelly her second chance at winning an Olympic medal on the beach to match those held by her various partners.

Ana Paula, 36, won an Olympic bronze for indoor volleyball in 1996 and since then has teamed up with some of Brazil's most famous beach volleyball players including Sandra Pires, who won gold when the sand sport first joined the Olympics in 1996.

Most recently she has been playing with Shelda Bede, who won silvers at Sydney and Athens with Adriana Behar, also one of Ana Paula's former team mates.

Now Ana Paula will join Larissa Franca in Beijing, replacing the 25-year-old Juliana, who dropped out late on Wednesday.

"It's really sad that she had to pull out but hopefully she'll get to do another Olympics in London (in 2012). She's still very young and deserves it," said Kerri Walsh, favorite for gold in Beijing with her long-term partner Misty May-Treanor.

Of all the pairings that Ana Paula has had, she has not competed with Larissa, who has been with Juliana since 2004.

"It's a new pairing but we know both of them and both their games separately. It's going to be tough because they're both very well rounded," Walsh said.

Ana Paula and Shelda have been in great form this year, winning three international tour events.

They lay in eighth place in the Olympic qualification rankings but missed out on a trip to Beijing because of a rule that each country can send a maximum of two teams.

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" here; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china)