Portuguese legends Miguel Maia and João Brenha come back for invitational event on home sand!
News
The most famous and successful Portuguese Beach Volleyball players in history, three-time Olympians and eight-time national champions Miguel Maia and João Brenha, are making a comeback to compete with other international teams from their era.
The event, called Solverde Legends, will be taking to the stadium in Praia da Baía from July 20 to 23 some of the biggest names in international Volleyball and Beach Volleyball – for an exhibition running shortly after a Beach Pro Tour Challenge event.
The list of Beach Volleyball legends includes the likes of Jorre Kjemperud and Vegard Hoidalen (Norway), Argentina’s Eduardo Martinez and Martin Conde, Franco Neto/Luiz Jesus ‘Luisão’ (Brazil), Abreu Morais/Emanuel Fernandes (Angola), Conrad Leinemann/Rich Vanhuizen (Canada), Juan Milanés/Gilbert Castillo (Cuba), Nicola Grigolo/Paolo De Angeli (Italy), Jean-Phillipe Jodard/Sébastian Huchard (France) and Fábio Diez/Agustin Correa (Spain).
The Beach Volleyball legends explain where the idea came from:
“We are enthusiasts of the sport and as we are organising events, the possibility emerged of utilising this stadium set up in Praia da Baía for a few more days after the end of the Espinho Challenge. That gave us the possibility to bring to our country former elite Beach Volleyball players. Even more so at Espinho, where many fans did witness their actions back some years ago.”
“Why not to revive the Maia/Brenha duo, which many young people have heard of but have never seen playing? Obviously, we are going to have a tournament at a completely different pace from what we had before, with slower athletes and less jumping, but that will certainly give a show that will please the public. I invite all Volleyball lovers, the people who saw us playing, to come and watch the games and fill the stands with enthusiasm because the sport has a lot to gain from events of this nature,” Maia and Brenha said.
Miguel Maia and João Brenha, who retired from the sport in 2009, had a fabulous career, with highlights including a fifth place from the inaugural European Championship in 1993 in Almeria, Spain, fourth place at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000 in Atlanta and Sydney, respectively. They claimed their first World Tour gold medal in 1998 in Oostende, Belgium, followed by another success at the Russian Open in Moscow a year later. Maia and Brenha finished fourth at the 2003 World Championship in Rio de Janeiro where Maia’s injury prevented the Portuguese stars from playing the semis and medal matches. Even though Brenha underwent surgery only two months before the Games, they finished ninth at Athens 2004 – and shortly before their retirement, in 2008 they claimed their eight national title from as many finals.