Beach volleyball: Brazil beat Canada to win women’s gold

PARIS: Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Duda Lisboa beat Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson 2-1 to win the Olympic women’s beach volleyball gold at the iconic venue in front of the Eiffel Tower on Friday (Aug 9).
In the bronze medal match, Switzerland’s Tanja Huberli and Nina Brunner beat Australia’s silver medallists from Tokyo, Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, in straight sets.
With the shimmering lights on Paris’s most famous monument serving as the perfect backdrop and thumping music at the temporary arena between every point, Brazil’s women won their second gold medal in the sport and first since 1996 in Atlanta when beach volleyball made its debut at the Games.
Duda was lost for words.
“I’m so, so happy, I don’t believe it’s happened,” she said.
Although the roaring Brazilian fans clad in golden yellow outnumbered the Canadians, it was the North American duo that raced into a 13-7 lead before Ramos got the crowd going with two consecutive blocks at the net.
Duda and Ramos are the top-ranked duo in the world and they underlined their credentials as favourites with a superlative performance and a roaring crowd backing them while Canada also took home their first medal in the sport.
Even as tempers flared at one point in the deciding set, the DJ played John Lennon’s Imagine to calm things down as the crowd sang along and the athletes smiled and carried on before Brazil triumphed 26-24 12-21 15-10.
Switzerland won the bronze with a 21-17 21-15 victory over Australia.