Larnaka, Cyprus, July 31, 2016 – In a packed stadium on Finikoudes beach in Larnaka Renato Lima de Carvalho and Rafael Mendonca de Quiero captured the second gold medal of the evening for Brazil at the FIVB U19 World Championships. Only one hour after Duda Lisboa and Victoria Lopes claimed the U19 title in the women’s competition, Renato and Rafael defeated Florian Breer and Yves Haussener 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) in the final.
It was a repeat of the 2014 edition in Porto, when Arthur Mariano and George Souto and Duda and Andressa Cavalcanti won the gold medals.
Like their compatriots two years ago, the U19 gold is Renato’s and Rafael’s first FIVB medal in their first international tournament. “I am very happy, this was our dream”, said 18-year old Rafael. “Every day I have been dreaming about this. Every day we practiced for this, every day we worked hard to win the gold here at this tournament.”
The Brazilians needed three sets against France's Timothee Platre and Remi Bassereau in the semifinal (21-17, 19-21, 15-9), but were not in any trouble against Breer and Haussener.
The Swiss, who won the U17 World Championships in 2014, only came close in the second set, when they levelled at 14-14 after a long and spectacular rally. But in the end, not being the tallest players in Larnaka, they were not able to stop the high and powerful attacks of the Brazilians.
Haussener: “We had some good actions at certain moments, but all in all we were not able to get them into trouble. They played well and made no mistakes and they were better in defence than us.”
Breer and Haussener bring back home Switzerland’s first U19 medal. “In a few days we will be happy with this silver”, said Breer. “It’s still great for us, a silver medal, but when you’re in the final you always want to win. And it wasn’t our best game. We didn’t play very well.”
Bronze for LatviaLatvians Mihails Samoilovs and Kristaps Smits came back from one set down against France’s Timothee Platre and Remi Bassereau (18-21, 21-17, 15-7) to win the bronze medal.
“It is a good day for the Samoilovs”, said 18-year old Mihails, the younger brother of Aleksandrs Samoilovs. “My brother just won the gold in Klagenfurt and we won the bronze.”
The Latvians, on their first FIVB campaign, came all the way from qualification. They lost 2-0 (22-20, 21-11) to the Swiss in the semifinal, but were determined to claim the bronze.
“The semifinal against Switzerland was our worst match of the tournament”, said Samoilovs. “But we just forgot about it and got ready for the bronze medal.”
Nerves caused a shaky start against France’s U18 European champions, said Samoilovs. “But in the second set I just decided to forget this was a medal match. I just tried to play freely and then our game started to flow.”
Quick Links•
U19 World Championships Larnaka, Cyprus 2016 - website•
Qualification - Men•
Qualification - Women•
Main draw - Men•
Main draw - Women