Final day of 2011 Brazilian Banco do Brasil Beach Volleyball Tournament: Recap
The double-gender Brazilian Banco do Brasil event created a wonderful opportunity for aspiring beach volleyball pairs from Brazil to showcase their game skills on centre court. The city of Salvador in Bahia, Brazil hosted the campaign, which concluded on
Sunday, September 25. The final day of the tournament featured medal matches and eventually revealed the team-standings. In the men’s division, Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha captured the limelight for winning the top slot. They dethroned FIVB Beach Volleyball
Swatch World Championships gold medalists Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego in the final showdown. Similarly, the female tandem of Talita Antunes and Maria Elisa Antonelli outshone the world champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, in order to
settle for the Number One position in the competition
Men’s Final
The two in-state rivals took their positions at centre court and kicked off the action on a high note. The exchange of powerful serves and quick passes started and each side tried to claim every possible point. Alison/Emanuel developed the perfect rhythm
to secure the opening set of the match at 21-17. However, the loss of the first set invigorated their opponents. Ricardo and Cunha hit back aggressively in the second set and managed to create a tie by sending 21-18 on to the board. The game entered a 15-point
golden set, which put both teams to the real test. Continuing with success, the pairing of Ricardo and Cunha cruised past to 15-8 and claimed the gold-medal victory.
Ricardo was delighted about the crucial win at home. He expressed his emotions in the following manner: “Winning at home is always special. We had trouble in the first set, but the fans gave us huge energy and we were helped by it, we managed to play better
and win the match.”
The final match was followed by the bronze medal contest, where Marcio Araujo and Benjamin Insfran crossed paths with opponents Bernardo Romano and Jan Ferreira. The third-position match spanned three sets, while Marcio/Benjamin emerged as the successful
team. They posted 2-1 (18-21, 21-17 and 15-3) victory over the opponent.
Women’s Final
In the women’s section, the tandem of Talita and Antonelli proved their supremacy. They clinched success in the final match by defeating Juliana and Larissa in straight sets (21-14, 21-18). Talita and Antonelli came out strong as they displayed a great effort
and managed to get their hands on the second title of the 2011 Banco do Brasil Tour. Success surely boosted their morale after making a second gold-medal win on the circuit this year. There are five more stages of the tournament left this season.
Antonelli was overwhelmed with sense of the great victory over tough competitors. She stated: “Today was our day and we had the patience to play. Juliana and Larissa always play 100per cent physically and technically, so we had to give 150 per cent.”
The tandems of Val Leao/Shaylyn Bede were challenged by Angela Viera/Lili Maestrini in women’s third position match. The former proved to be better and took away bronze by posting a 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) win.
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