BRAZILIANS ON TOP ON HOME SAND IN UBERLANDIA PRO TOUR ELITE 16

Andre and George and Duda and Ana Patricia take the top prize in South American Elite 16 event in two dramatic gold medal matches

Reigning world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos and fellow Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderely won gold at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 event on their home sand in Uberlandia on Sunday.

Playing at Praia Club, where they train every day, Duda and Ana Patricia defeated Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria Rodrigues in the tie-breaker (21-17, 27-29, 15-11) to secure their third gold medal in the international season.

The winners of Rome’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship and the Gstaad Elite 16, Duda and Ana Patricia made their sixth-straight international podium appearance following bronze medals secured in Elite16 tournaments in Jurmala, Paris and Cape Town.

“This tournament was another important step as we continue to build our team,” Ana Patricia said. “We’re very happy with what we’ve done so far, but we know we can do a lot more. It was an important experience for us and I was tested during the tournament, but Duda helped me a lot and it was great for our growth. It was amazing to play here in Uberlandia, a city that welcomed us so well at the start of the year.”

Since the Jurmala Elite16 event, held at the start of June, the Brazilians have won 35 of the 38 matches they played. This week, they took the title with six victories and just one set dropped.

“It was a magic week for us,” Duda said after the win. “We practise here at Praia Club every day and to have the opportunity to play a big tournament like this here in front of the people who see us train every day is amazing. It’s been incredible, we couldn’t be any happier. It took us a little while to get our team going at the start of the season, but we had the patience to find our rhythm and our chemistry as partners.”

Veterans Barbara Seixas and Carol Salgado completed the first podium sweep of the Beach Pro Tour at the Elite16 level and took bronze, with the Brazilians beating another home team, Taiana Lima and Hegeile ‘Hege’ Santos, in three sets (21-19, 17-21, 15-13).

Thriller sees Andre and George grab gold

Loyola and Wanderely overcame compatriots and qualifiers Pedro Solberg and Arthur Lanci in a thrilling three-set (28-30, 21-15, 15-11) battle to claim the men’s gold medal.

With the victory, Andre and George have now won all three last international events held in Brazil. Their winning run at home started one year ago, when they were victorious at an FIVB World Tour tournament in Itapema and continued last April, when the Beach Pro Tour held a Challenge event in the same city which was also won by the pair.

“Every international title I won in my career, expect for the 2017 World Championship, was in Brazil,” Loyola said. “I really like to play in front of the Brazilians fans. Playing at home has been really positive for me and I have a lot of fun every time I get to do it. I hope it continues this way. It’s our first victory in an Elite16 tournament and we’re really happy.”

Wanderley added: “We won a South American Tour event here at Praia Clube and it’s great to get to do it again, now on the Beach Pro Tour. The facility really is out of this world and we felt the support of the fans every single day. It was a really nice event.”

Reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum also make it to the podium, in third place, after they topped Brazilians Vitor Felipe and Renato Lima 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-10) in a rematch of the final of the 2022 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.

The Norwegians, who won last week’s Elite16 tournament in Cape Town, now have six medals for the season (four golds, two bronzes).

The Beach Pro Tour next heads to Australia with back-to-back events in Torquay. A Challenge event takes place between 23-27 November before an Elite 16 event brings the curtain down on the first season of the tour between 29 November and 3 December.

Information and photo source : International Volleyball Federation