Dutch duo makes it to the podium of Beijing Grand Slam for the first time – Volleyball news
The 2012 Beijing Grand Slam men’s beach volleyball tournament completed an amazing run from May 8-13 in China.
At the end of the tournament, 3rd-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil from the Netherlands stepped up to the podium on account of their mesmerizing performance. They settled for gold medal victory as they defeated 14th-seeded Italian pair of Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo in the final showdown of the tournament on Sunday.
Dutch tandem dominated the Italian counterparts and finished the match in straight sets. They posted 21-11, 21-16 on board and claimed 2-0 victory. It took them only 31 minutes to dismantle the power of Italian team. Victory in the final match of Beijing Grand Slam allowed the winning pair to earn $43,000 prize money. Furthermore, it marked the first ever gold medal win for Dutch pair in the history of Beijing Grand Slam. Schuil settled for the Red Bull Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for winning the final.
On the other hand, Italian pair also made history. They could not climb up the top slot in tournament but seemed satisfied with the second-place finish. They earned a Grand Slam silver for the first time in FIVB history. Surprisingly, Italian women did the same in their respective competition. Greta Cicolari/ Marta Menegatti of Italy took on Brazilian Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca in the women’s final match of Beijing Grand Slam. The Brazilian duo seized the title, while Italian team settled for silver medal. However, it was a big achievement for Italian pair as they claimed the Grand Slam silver for the first time.
In the men’s final, Italian Nicolai had an injury to his stomach muscle that badly affected his performance. Meanwhile, Dutch pair took full advantage and easily managed to hold the opponents off for 2-0 victory.
This was the same thing, which Schuil mentioned in his post-match commented. He stated, “The Italian was a little bit injured, we saw that, but we were also nervous, because we’d never won a Grand Slam and we wanted to play well. So, we are really happy to win. In the whole tournament we played very well. The final wasn’t the best, but good enough.”
Nonetheless, he seemed more than happy to claim gold-ware at the Beijing Grand Slam. He expressed his emotions in the following manner, “We are really happy to win our first Grand Slam title; it’s very important for us because it’s an Olympic year and we want to be ready for London,” said. “It’s really the first step and it’s good preparation for the Olympic Games, because there were so many good teams playing here.”
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