Talita-Antonelli secure women’s bronze at the A1 Grand Slam – Volleyball News
Brazil’s Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli settled for the bronze-ware on their 49th world tour event, which recently rounded off in Klagenfurt, Austria.
In the third position match on Sunday, the Brazilian duo was supposed to take on China’s Chen Xue and Zhang Xi. However, the Chinese team did not appear in the match and Brazilian tandem earned victory in a forfeit.
Let’s have a little rundown on their overall performance in the tournament.
The experienced Brazilian duo entered the Main Draw of A1 Grand Slam Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament and finished the day-1 with devastating results. They appeared in two matches and failed to grab success. In the first fixture, they got defeated by Russia’s 28th-seeded Khomyakova-Ukolova and received another blow from compatriot duo of Vieira and Lili in the second match of the opening day.
After suffering a complete loss in the first two matches, the team came up with better strategy and plan on the next day. Talita-Antonelli broke the ice on day2 by defeating Belgium’s 12th-seeded Mouha-Gielen. Strong offence and solid defence allowed Brazilian side to finish the match in straight sets.
Next up, the Brazil team crossed its ways with home duo of Schwaiger D.-Schwaiger S. The Austrian pair had certain advantages in the match. They were equipped with a lot of support from the rowdy home fans, which made it quite difficult for the visitors to win the match. Nevertheless, Talita-Antonelli managed to outdo the Austrian duo in a three-set match. Visiting team captured two sets and won the match with 2-1 ratio. Hence, the South Americans closed the second day with 2-0 record and clawed their way to the next round of the tournament.
Talita-Antonelli clinched a berth in the top-16 teams of the tournament. They had the toughest challenge to face country women Juliana-Larissa in the top-16 round of the A1 Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria.
The match against second-seeded Juliana-Larissa put Talita-Antonelli to real test of skills. The two Brazilian sides clashed for a berth in the quarterfinals. The match was complete thriller, which eventually ended in Talita-Antonelli’s favour. The duo clinched success and paved its way to the quarter-finals.
The quarterfinal match also came successful for Talita-Antonelli as they lunched authority over Czech Republic’s Klapalova-Hajeckova and claimed success in just two sets.
Finally, the Brazilian fifth-seeded duo of Talita and Antonelli booked their 33rd final four spot in the history of SWATCH FIVB World Tour. In the next two matches (semi-final and bronze-medal match) Talita-Antonelli earned forfeit wins and ended up with bronze medal victory.
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