competition/Beach Pro Tour

Brazil collects four medals at Marica Futures

Pairs from Ukraine and Paraguay also make the podium in Brazil

Published 04:27, 09 Dec 2024

Photo: Wallace Teixeira / FV Imagem / CBV

Three Brazilian pairs, all arriving from the qualifications, achieved a complete sweep of the women’s podium at the Marica Futures on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Verena Figueira de Oliveira & Kyce Mikaele Martins Silva, Flavia Moura Santos Cezar & Fabrine Conceicao dos Santos and Emanuely Pereira Cardoso & Quemile Vieira de Souza earned gold, silver and bronze, respectively. The host nation triumphed in the men’s competition as well, with Igor De Carvalho Borges & Felipe Alves Pereira claiming the trophy. Ukraine’s Anton Moiseiev & Vitalii Savvin took silver, while Paraguay’s Gonzalo Melgarejo & Giuliano Massare Canillas picked up bronze.

The 2024 Marica Futures men’s podium (source: CSV - Confederacion Sudamericana de Voleibol)

Igor decorated his Beach Pro Tour debut with gold. It was also the first gold, but overall second Tour medal, for his partner Felipe Alves, who took silver at last year’s Miguel Pereira Futures. In Marica, the two won all five of their matches to climb to the top of the podium. One of the two sets the 10^th-seeded Brazilian pair lost along the way was in their 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-10) win over fellow Brazilians, qualifiers Pedro Henrique Resende Santos & Johann Ferdinand Dohmann. Igor & Felipe Alves followed up with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) sweep of the final against fourth-seeded Moiseiev & Savvin.

The 20-year-old Ukrainians reached the gold medal showdown on a 4-1 win-loss record. In the semifinals, they achieved a 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) upset of second-seeded Gonzalo & Giuliano of Paraguay to secure their first Beach Pro Tour podium.

Gonzalo & Giuliano bounced back with a 2-1 (21-18, 12-21, 15-13) victory over Pedro Henrique & Johann in the bronze medal match and also celebrated their first ever Beach Pro Tour podium.

The 2024 Marica Futures women’s podium (source: CSV - Confederacion Sudamericana de Voleibol)

Playing only at their second Beach Pro Tour event, Verena & Kyce started from the qualifiers and managed to string up seven back-to-back wins on the way to the top, losing only one set in the process. Seeded 15^th in the main draw, they produced a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory over 16^th-seeded qualifiers Manu & Quemile in the semifinals and a 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) sweep of the final against 14^th-seeded qualifiers Flavia Moura & Fabrine.

Flavia Moura & Fabrine crowned a six-game winning streak in Marica with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-14) semifinal win over 10^th-seeded Carolina Sallaberry Cavalcanti & Marcela de Souza Mattoso Barbosa, also of Brazil, to secure their second Beach Pro Tour medal, after the bronze they claimed in Miguel Pereira last year.

Manu & Quemile rounded off a 6-2 win-loss record in the tournament with a 2-1 (19-21, 27-25, 15-10) victory over Carol & Marcela in the third place match to achieve their first Beach Pro Tour podium.