Spaniards secure bronze medal at the Silesia Open – Volleyball news
The 2012 Silesia Open men’s beach volleyball tournament came to an end on Sunday, April 29 and the final day covered the most significant final two matches.
Spanish duo of Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira clashed with Paolo Nicolai- Daniele Lupo of Italy in the third-position match. The Spaniards posted 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) victory over Italian counterparts and settled for bronze-ware.
The third-seeded Spanish duo was too strong for young Italians Lupo-Nicolai. They easily managed to dismiss the opponents and finished the match in only 34 minutes. This is their fifth bronze medal on SWATCH FIVB World Tour. In addition five bronze medals,
Herrera and Gavira have also seized three silver-medal victories in the previous years.
The small Polish town Myslowice set up the field of play this edition of the Silesia Open and created a wonderful environment for a great competition.
The Spaniards made a strong opening in the match. Both players had the ability to produce powerful aces and showed their skills. Gavira provided a whole lot of power while serving, which helped the team to take up an early lead. The Italian pair did try
to block the killing spikes from opposite side of the net but remained unsuccessful in most of their attempts. The ball frequently landed on Italian side and scoreboard showed the better status of Spanish team. The Spaniard continued with success and secured
opening set at 21-16.
The second set unfolded the similar story. Spanish duo rallied a 6-0 run to open the second set. The Italian team could only score 11 points in the frame and accepted defeat. Spaniards closed the second set at 21-11 and announced match victory.
“We expected a more difficult match, as the Italians were very good this tournament. We are very happy with this bronze medal, after losing last week in Brasilia and finishing fourth. Our position on the Olympic ranking looks great, so now we can relax a
little and enjoy the World Tour,” said Herrera, who won an Olympic silver medal in Athens.
The Italian players seemed quite satisfied with the fourth-place finish as it marked their first appearance in the bronze medal match. Last year, they participated in the Hague Open and claimed fifth-place finish. However, the duo further improved by making
it to the fourth position at 2012 Silesia Open. Nicolai shared his thoughts after the match.
He said, “It is never good when you lose this way, but I am happy with fourth place. If someone had told me on Tuesday that we would be in the semi-finals, I would have said they were crazy.”
In the next run, the SWATCH FIVB World Tour will move to Shanghai, China. A double-gender competition, the Shanghai Grand Slam, will take place from April 30 to May 6. Furthermore, the next SWATCH FIVB event will also be hosted by China. The Beijing Grand
Slam will cover its length from May 7-13.
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