Brazil wins gold at Pan American Games: Women’s Volleyball
The final of the Pan American Games Women’s Volleyball tournament took place on the Thursday, October 20 in Guadalajara at the Avila Camacho Sport Complex. The two teams that played against each other in the gold medal match were the world's top ranked Brazilian
squad and the Cuban team. Cuba had defeated the world's second ranked American team in the semi-finals of the tournament to meet the Brazilians.
The match between Cuba and Brazil was as thrilling as expected with both the sides putting on a good show of volleyball skills and exciting the audience with five long sets. The first set of the match was dominated by the Brazilians and they were able to
smother the Cubans as a result. The Cubans put on a good show in the second set and bagged the frame. The Brazilians got back their lead in the match by securing the third set but the fourth one was taken by the Cubans after a good fight. The fifth and the
final set started off with both Cuba and Brazil coming out strong but the Brazilians finally sealed the deal on the match at the following final set scores: 25-15, 21-25, 25-21, 21-25 and 15-10.
The coach of the winning team, Jose Roberto Guimaraes expressed himself in the following manner at the press conference after the match reached its close: “It was a very tough match against a Cuban team that played very good. Cuba is a very young team that
must improve its game for the Olympic Games. We lost the fourth set, but in the tie-break, everything worked since the very beginning. The most important thing is that this was a team victory.”
On the other hand, the coach of the Cuban squad, Juan Carlos Gala, made the following statements: “This experience will help us to see what we need to improve. Our team could recover after a tough start. I am happy with this medal, is a silver medal that
tastes like gold because I saw a very young team that played a wonderful match.”
This is not the first time that the Brazilians have won the Pan American Games as they have already earned the title a total of three times. The first time that Brazil got its hands on the gold medal of Pan Am was in 1959. The match was played in Chicago
while the second time the Brazilians took the medal in 1963 in Sao Paulo. The last time that the Brazilians earned themselves the honour of getting the gold medal was in 1999, with the match being played in Winnipeg, Canada.
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