Evandro and Alvaro secure first title together in Brazil

Evandro Goncalves and Alvaro Filho didn’t have to wait long to celebrate their first title together as the recently partnered Brazilians topped the podium at the second event of the country’s 2021 beach volleyball tour in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

The Tokyo Olympians, who became partners just five weeks ago, prevailed over two-time defending Brazilian champions Andre Loyola and George Wanderley in two sets (24-22, 21-15) to improve from their second-place finish in the opening event, three weeks ago, and secure their first gold medal together.

“To play in another final and win for the first time alongside Alvaro is really exciting,” Evandro said. “But the main challenge is still ahead of us. We’re getting better at each event and each match we play, but we need to be patient because there’s still a long way for us to be where we want to be.”

Vitor Felipe and Renato Andrew, who won the season-opening event, took bronze this time after they defeated Arthur Mariano and Adrielson Santos in straight sets (21-17, 21-15). Rio 2016 Olympic champion Alison Cerutti and new partner Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes finished fifth.

The women’s tournament, which did not feature the team of Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa, who were competing at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals in Sardinia, had surprising winners in Elize Maia and Thamela Coradello.

The Espirito Santo natives upset beach volleyball veterans Carolina Solberg and Barbara Seixas to win the gold medal match in straight sets (21-17, 21-18) and secure their first Brazilian Tour title as a team.

“This tournament was really challenging,” the 36-year-old Elize said. “To play against Carol and Barbara, who made it to the final again, is really difficult and brings the best out of us. Thamela was fantastic and helped me a lot. We’re working really hard with our coaching staff and we need to thank them and our families because we wouldn’t have made it without their support.”

Olympians Rebecca Cavalcanti and Talita Antunes, who had triumphed in the first event, had to settle for bronze this time after they beat Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria Rodrigues 2-1 (21-23, 21-11, 15-11) to finish third.

The third event of the Brazilian Tour season will start in just nine days and take place from October 19-24, again in Rio de Janeiro.