Volleyball Empowerment beneficiaries collect more South American Tour medals

• FIVB Volleyball Empowerment has supported Chile and Paraguay’s beach volleyball with a total of CHF 275,500

• Chile’s Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt claimed the men’s silver

• Paraguay’s Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti secured the women’s bronze

• Brazilian pairs triumph with both gold medals; Argentina claims remaining spots on the podiums

Another CSV Beach Volleyball South American Tour event was held last week in Montevideo and, once again, teams benefitting from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support were among the medallists. Chile’s Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt (pictured in the main photo; credits: CSV) celebrated the men’s silver, while Paraguay’s Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti took the women’s bronze.

Chile’s beach volleyball programme has so far been granted coach support of CHF 72,000, in addition to CHF 9,500 worth of beach volleyball equipment from Volleyball Empowerment, and Brazilian coach Adriano Bonina Cerqueira has been in charge of their national duos.

Moreover, the women’s national beach volleyball teams of Paraguay have so far been supported with a total of CHF 180,000 in coach support from Volleyball Empowerment. Their National Federation’s beach volleyball programme has also received another CHF 5,000 for national team coaches development and CHF 9,000 in beach volleyball equipment. Paraguay’s women’s national duos are coached by Lucelia Batista de Almeida.

The South American Tour men’s medallists in Montevideo (Photo credits: Sergio Duarte / CSV)

The Third-seeded Grimalt cousins finished second in Pool B, after winning three of their four matches played. They lost only to second-seeded Brazilians Arthur Da Silva Mariano and Adrielson Dos Santos Silva after a three-set battle. The Chilean duo reached the gold medal match with straight-set victories in the quarterfinals and the semifinals. In their duel for a spot in the final, they produced a 2-0 (24-22, 21-15) win over fourth-seeded home favourites, Hans Hannibal and Nicolas Llambias Carvalho of Uruguay, only to face Mariano and Silva again in a clash for the trophy.

Mariano and Silva had reached the final undefeated, after a 2-1 (23-25, 21-19, 15-9) victory over the tournament’s top seeds, Nicolas Capogrosso and Tomas Capogrosso of Argentina. In the final showdown, they once again came back from a set down against the Grimalt cousins to celebrate a 2-1 (18-21, 21-13, 15-12) victory.

The Capogrosso pair defeated Hannibal and Llambias 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) to snatch the bronze.

Men’s results and standings

The South American Tour women’s medallists in Montevideo (Photo credits: Sergio Duarte / CSV)

In the women’s tournament in the Uruguayan capital, Paraguay’s Valiente and Poletti, seeded second, reached the last four without dropping a single set in three matches played. In their semifinal, however, fourth-seeded Argentineans Ana Gallay and Brenda Ailen Churin stopped their victorious run with a 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) upset. The team from Paraguay bounced back with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-14) sweep of the bronze medal match against fifth-seeded Maria Rivas Zapata and Amanda Recart of Chile.

Top-seeded Hegeile Almeida and Vitoria Rodrigues of Brazil went through the entire tournament without losing any sets. In the semifinals, they managed a convincing 2-0 (21-12, 21-11) win over Rivas Zapata and Recart. Almeida and Rodrigues also claimed an emphatic 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) sweep of the gold medal showdown against Gallay and Churin.

Women’s results and standings

A total of 10 women’s and 10 men’s duos from 12 different countries took part in the Montevideo event. The next stop on the CSV Beach Volleyball South American Tour will be in Santo Angelo, Brazil from 15 to 17 March.