Lausanne, Switzerland, December 16, 2016 – At the time of the tournament in May, both players were only 17 years old, but Brazil’s Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos claimed the women’s gold at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland. The 2014 Youth Olympic Champions in Nanjing, China, defeated Russia’s Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina 2-0 (21-18, 21-8) to capture the FIVB U21 gold medal.
The Russians tried to rattle the Brazilian team by targeting Ana Patricia all the time. But the tall blocker stayed calm and kept on hammering the ball to the sand.
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Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesEvery time she scored a winner Ana Patricia would raise her hands in a display of confidence.
In Lucerne, Ana Patricia won her first FIVB age-group title besides the 2014 Youth Olympic gold with Duda in Nanjing. Duda has also won silver at the 2013 U23, gold at the U19 in 2013 and 2014 with different partners and two gold (2016 Fortaleza, Maceio), one silver (2015 Puerto Vallarta) and one bronze (2015 Prague) with Elize Maia at FIVB World Tour Opens.
Brazil has won seven gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals in the 15 years of the FIVB U21 World Championships.
Russia’s Kholomina,18 collected her first FIVB medal. Her more experienced partner Makroguzova, 19 won silver at the 2013 U19 with Anna Gorbunova. It was the fourth medal for Russia in the women’s U21’s.
Canada wins the bronzeYouth Olympic silver medallists Megan McNamara/Nicole McNamara from Canada won the bronze medal coming back from one set down to win 2-1 (18-21, 23-21, 15-10) against USA’s Sarah Sponcil/Torrey Van Winden.
The 18-year old Canadian twins warded off three American match points in the second set to win it at their first set point. This was the turning point in the match as they continued their good play in the tiebreak.
It was the second FIVB bronze for the sisters since they also placed third at the 2014 U19 in Porto. In that same year they had a 17th place finish at the U21. It was also the third medal for Canada in the women’s U21 history.