Brazilian duo gets third-place finish at 2012 Shanghai Grand Slam – Volleyball news
Brazil’s Pedro Salgado and Marcio Araujo defeated compatriots Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Benjamin Insfran in the classification match for third position on Sunday and got hold of the bronze-medal victory.
They started off slow and dropped the opening set but came up with spectacular show of beach volleyball in the next two sets. The match result was out in 57 minutes and final scores were 2-1 (16-21, 21-15, 15-13).
Bruno-Benjamin opened the match on strong footing and did exceptionally well in the first stanza. They served with accuracy and hit the ball in right spots. Pedro-Marcio took some time to settle down in their position. However, Bruno and Benjamin continued
with remarkable consistency and inched their way to first set win with a margin of five points, 21-16.
The winners of first set of the game caught up in unforced mistakes in the following and seemed to have lost momentum. In the meantime, Pedro and Marcio developed good timing between them and delivered convincing attacks. They offered strong offence to the
rival side and did not allow them to move ahead. Bruno-Benjamin suffered the loss of second set as Pedro-Marcio sent 21-15 on board.
Third decisive set was played under a lot stress. Both teams tried the best of their tactics and stayed close on the scorecard. Nonetheless, Pedro-Marcio finished the set with two-point advantage (15-13) and settled for match victory.
Pedro expressed delight about victory and shared his views in the following manner. He stated, “It is great and very important for us because it means we avoid the country quota matches in Prague. We want to be in the main draw at every tournament. I love
to play here because it is where I won my first professional title and it is very nice to be back here.”
Pedro and Marcio got together as a team. Previously, they were paired with different teammates. Pedro added fifth gold medal to his count while playing at Shanghai Grand Slam. He claimed gold-ware in 2007, 2008, 2010, and settled for silver in 2009. Likewise,
Marcio secured the top slot in 2006 and earned silver in 2007. Pedro and Marcio played in the final match of 2007 Shanghai Grand Slam but with different partners.
In the next run, the 2012 SWATCH FIVB the World Tour will move on to China’s capital for the Beijing Grand Slam, which is scheduled to take place from May 8-13. Once again, China will have the honour to set up the field of play for a Grand Slam Tournament.
Beijing Grand Slam will mark the last SWATCH FIVB event of the season in China. It will be a double-gender competition and total amount of $600,000 will be on stake. Check back for more updates.
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