Historic Portuguese title crowns a strong week for Europeans in Canada
Beach Pro Tour
A historic victory for Portuguese beach volleyball was the icing on the cake of another remarkable week for European teams on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, which culminated with five medals won at the Edmonton Challenge, in Canada.
The trip across the Atlantic Ocean was particularly productive for the European men, who got the continent its first medal sweep in three months, with Portugal’s João Pedrosa/Hugo Campos taking gold, Norway’s Hendrik Mol/Mathias Berntsen claiming silver and Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava securing bronze.
The women’s event in Edmonton saw European duos occupy two of the three podium spots, with Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi finishing second and Czechs Barbora Hermannová and Marie-Sara Štochlova ranking third.
Pedrosa and Campos’ victory in Edmonton, which was confirmed with their 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) win over Mol and Berntsen in the final, meant a lot for Portugal as it marked the first time the country topped the podium of an elite-level international tournament since 1999, when three-time Olympians Miguel Maia and João Brenha won an FIVB World Tour event.
To give their country their first title in more than two decades, the 23-year-old Pedrosa and the 22-year-old Campos had to play nine matches in Edmonton as they started their campaign in the Canadian event on the qualifier.
João Pedrosa“We almost lost in a tie-breaker in the qualifier and now we’re here, winning gold, it’s hard to believe. Maia and Brenha are like family to me, they support us the entire time. Hopefully, now it’s our turn to give some medals to Portugal. We just want to continue doing that because it’s what we love to do and winning makes it even more satisfying.”
Portuguese Beach Volleyball Player
Nicolai and Cottafava assured the all-European podium in Edmonton with their straight-set (21-19, 21-19) victory over Brazilians Pedro Solberg and Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes in the bronze medal match.
Samuele Cottafava“We’re happy to be back on the podium. We feel good now and we hope we can continue to play at this level in the future events.”
Italian Beach Volleyball Player
Menegatti and Gottardi had a solid campaign until the Edmonton Challenge gold medal match, but couldn’t handle Brazilians Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado, who had also won last week’s Challenge event in Espinho, Portugal, and fell in two sets (14-21, 16-21), taking silver.
In the all-European bronze medal match, Hermannová and Štochlová overcame Swiss Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Esmée Böbner in the tie-breaker (17-21, 26-24, 15-13) to claim the third and last spot in the podium.
Barbora Hermannová“We played some really difficult matches on the qualifier and could have even left the tournament in the first round, so to have the bronze medals now, it’s amazing. Marie-Sara also twisted her ankle in our second match and she pushed through it, which makes me even prouder of what we did. I was really tired in the bronze medal match, but our coach kept telling us to play as if we were playing for the Olympics and that every point mattered and it worked.”
Czech Beach Volleyball Player
The top European teams will be in Canada for another week as the country is now set to host an Elite16 event, in Montréal, next week, from Wednesday to Sunday.