Campinas/Brazil & World Cup 2013/ Winners Antonelli-Talita, argento Ross-Kessy, bronzo Holtwick-Semmler. Ko Cicolari-Orsi Toth
C’era la crema del beach volley a Campinas in Brasile, dove per l’Italia è scesa in campo la coppia formata da Greta Cicolari e Viktoria Orsi Toth, come noto quest’ultima in sostituzione di Marta Menegatti che si sta allenando a Falconara per essere pronta (post infortunio alla spalla) per il Grand Slam di Roma.
E noi comunque vi proponiamo in sequenza step by step tutto quanto è successo alle ‘azzurre’ in Brasile, dall’inizio ( in italiano) alla fine (in inglese, by www.fivb.org) giusto per onorare la internazionalità delle finaliste.
PRIMA NEWS ( by,federvolley.it , 28.05.2013 ) / AL VIA A CAMPINAS/BRASILE LA FINALE DELLA WORLD CUP DI BEACH VOLLEY
<< Prenderà il via domani la finale della World Cup di Beach Volley, in programma a Campinas (Brasile) fino al 2 giugno. In campo per l'Italia nel settore femminile sono presenti le azzurre Greta Cicolari e Viktoria Orsi Toth. Il format della competizione prevede che le dieci coppie partecipanti siano divise in due pool, al termine delle quali le prime due classificate di ogni girone si affronteranno nelle semifinali incrociate.
SECONDA NEWS ( by federvolley.it , 29.05.2013 ) / BEACH VOLLEY WORLD CUP: DOPPIO KO PER CICOLARI – ORSI TOTH
<< Le azzurre Greta Cicolari e Viktoria Orsi Toth hanno concluso la loro prima giornata di gare della World Cup con un bilancio di due sconfitte. Nel primo match sono state sconfitte 2-1 (18-21, 21-12, 15-9) dalle australiane Bawden-Clancy, mentre nel secondo si sono arrese 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) alle russe Ukolova-Khomyakova. Domani Greta e Viktoria se la vedranno con le argentine Gallay-Zonta e le statunitensi Ross-Kessy. Il format della competizione prevede che le dieci coppie partecipanti sono state divise in due pool, al termine delle quali le prime due classificate di ogni girone si affronteranno nelle semifinali incrociate.>>
TERZA NEWS ( by www.federvoley.it , 30-05-2013 ) / BEACH VOLLEY WORLD CUP: CICOLARI – ORSI TOTH FUORI DALLE SEMIFINALI
<< Le azzurre Greta Cicolari e Viktoria Orsi Toth salutano la World Cup in corso di svolgimento a Campinas, Brasile. Le ragazze di Lissandro anche oggi hanno collezionato due sconfitte che le hanno relegate all'ultimo posto del raggruppamento B escludendole quindi dalle semifinali che si disputeranno domani. Greta e Viktoria sono state battute 2-1 (16-21, 21-15, 16-14) dalle argentine Gallay-Zonta nel primo match di giornata per poi dare forfait nel secondo match contro le statunitensi Kessy-Ross>>
QUARTA NEWS ( by www.fivb.org ) / FOUR TEAMS UNDERFEATED AFTER FIRST DAY OF WOMEN’S POOL PLAY
( Katrin Holtwick helped Germany to an undefeated first day of competition )
<< Campinas, Brazil, May 29, 2013 - Under cloudy skies and in chilly conditions, teams from Brazil, USA, Germany and Russia were all unbeaten in pool play of the women's draw on the first day of the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final in Campinas, Brazil.
First on centre court at 09:00 (local time) in pool A fourth seeds Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler of Germany beat Canada's Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney 2-0 (21-10, 21-17), then followed that up with a tougher three-set win, 2-1 (21-14, 16-21, 15-9), against Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic.
"We knew our second match was our important one," said Semmler. "It's probably the match for who is going to be out [qualify] from the pool and we're pretty happy that we won it. We can go now a little bit more relaxed into the last two matches."
Germany's pool A rivals, Brazil's Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes, back together for this tournament after success with new partners in 2013, also won their first two matches on day one of the tournament, not dropping a set with 2-0 victories against Mauritius (21-6, 21-4) and Canada (21-12, 21-10).
"We were able to find our rhythm in these two matches," said Talita. "Four years of partnership did not end in five months. It was easy to play with Maria. It is good to remember good things. The game against Canada showed what was our pair. I hope we are able to hold that level during the tournament."
Brazil and Germany will meet in the last round of pool A matches on Thursday.
In pool B in the women's draw, Olympic silver medallists April Ross and Jennifer Kessy were pushed a little harder than their Brazilian rivals, but also recorded a pair of victories on day one. A 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) victory against Argentina was followed up with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) win against Australia's new pairing of Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy.
"We're always building, finding out and learning as we go," said Bawden. "It's a different situation every game, something different comes at you and it's a challenge to build the team work and bring the best of your skills each time. We're working hard on that."
The Australian pair face Argentina at 09:00 (local time) on Thursday, but meet the fourth undefeated team in the women's draw, Russia's Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Khomyakova, in the their key pool match later in the day.
Ukolova-Khomyakova started their day with a quick 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) win against third seeds Greta Cicolari and Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy, and finished off the day's play at Parque do Taquaral with another 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) win against Argentina. They face Ross-Kessy of the USA in their first match on Thursday morning.
There were also four matches in the men's draw on Wednesday with the tournament's top four seeds, Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson from United States, Brazil's Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik from Germany and Latvia's Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins all taking victory.
Erdmann-Matysik worked hardest for their win, needing just under an hour to take the match 2-1 (21-12, 18-21, 21-19) with a close third-set win against Canada's Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk.
Play resumes at 09:00 (local time) on Thursday with matches from the women's draw, with the men scheduled on court at 10:40.>>
QUINTA NEWS ( www.fivb.org) / WOMEN’S FINAL FOUR DECIDES AS BRAZIL FIRE UP HOME CROWD
( Talita Da Rocha Antunes waves to the Campinas crowd after Brazil moved into the final four )
<< Campinas, Brazil, May 30, 2013 - Brazil's Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes made the noisy centre-court Campinas crowd happy by qualifying for the women's final four with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-14) win against Germany's Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler at the end of day two of the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final.
They won a close first set and kept the pressure on Germany with some strong defensive plays to win the second more comfortably. The result meant the pair topped pool A ahead of Germany and set them up with a final four meeting against Australia's Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy.
"It was a good result," said Brazil's Talita. "The Germans were a strong pair and we have already lost to them, but we started the game well."
Despite their two-set win, partner Maria Elisa still looked ahead to Brazil's final-four meeting against Australia with caution: "We never played against this pair. They are a new and tall team that are developing a lot."
Australia's Bawden and Clancy earned second spot in pool B after beating Russia 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in a close deciding match, with Bawden highlighting her partner's performance as a crucial factor in victory. "Taliqua brought out some really great plays, found the right moments to hit high off the top of the block, then using finesse to hit great zones near the sidelines. It made it really hard for them to know which area of the court to take away from her. That was definitely key to our success."
Their match against Brazil is the second in the final four, scheduled for 14:30 (local time) on Friday and 20-year-old Clancy is looking forward to the match-up. "I watched them play when I started playing beach volleyball and looking up to them, so it'll be good to compete against them, it's pretty exciting."
The first final-four match on court, starting at 13:30, is between second seeds April Ross and Jennifer Kessy from the United States and Germany's Holtwick and Semmler. Ross and Kessy had to recover a first-set deficit in their opening match of the day against Russia, but came through 2-0 (23-21, 21-15), and their final pool opponents, Italy's Greta Cicolari and Viktoria Orsi Toth, were an injury default, so they could sit back and relax while Holtwick and Semmler battled through their match against Brazil.
Despite the extra exercise and the defeat, Semmler was happy about the high technical level of the Brazilian workout while partner Holtwick looked ahead to their final-four match with the USA, specifically the memory of a 2-1 (21-15, 23-25, 15-13) win against them in the third round at the Fuzhou Open, China in April. "They are a strong team, we played them once this year and we won so we have chances, but we still have to play our best beach volleyball."
In the men's draw, Brazil's Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego got the happy Campinas crowd singing and dancing as they remained unbeaten in pool A in the men's draw with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) win against Venezuela's Jackson Henriquez and Leonard Alexis Colina.
Latvia's Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins also maintained their unbeaten pool A record with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-10) victory against Switzerland's Sebastian Chevallier and Mats Kovatsch. Afterwards Plavins was already focussing on the pool A re-match with Alison-Emanuel, after the Brazilian pair beat them 2-0 (21-15, 22-20) in the semi-finals at the 2012 Olympic Games.
"I think the match against Brazil will be very tough, because they are playing at home. I don't want to lose with 10 points only, so we will do our best, we will try to win, if not we will try to play a good game," said Plavins.
In pool B Canada's seventh seeds Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk, who came within a few points of beating Germany on day one of the tournament, claimed a 2-0 (21-15, 22-20) victory against top seeds Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson from the USA. "It's about time we won a close one," said Saxton. "We've come really close a bunch of times lately, so it's nice to actually get a win against a good team."
"It's about making those plays at the end of the match," said partner Schalk on the win. "This match we made huge plays when we needed, we were down in the second [set], Ben made a few blocks I made a few digs and we crawled back into it. Yesterday we had a couple of opportunities to take it from Germany and we let them off the hook, in this one we took it away from the US."
Third seeds Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik of Germany won their only match of the day 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) against Norway's Geir Eithun and Iver Andreas Horrem to top the pool on four points, leaving a three-way tie in second place between Canada, USA and Norway on all on three points.
The pool stage of the men's draw will conclude on Friday, with first matches on court at 09:00.>>
SESTA NEWS ( by www.fivb.org) / OLYMPIC MDALLISTS LEAVE IT LATE TO GRAB IN MEN’S FINAL FOUR
(Brazil's Alison Cerutti takes the applause of the Campinas crowd after a tension-filled win)
Campinas, Brazil, May 31, 2013 - Brazil's Olympic silver medallists Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego were forced to dig deep and use all their experience to find a way into the tournament's final four as the sun shone gloriously on day three of the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final.
….omissis…
In all the drama of the final round of pool matches in the men's draw, the women's final four almost played a support act on day three, but saw home favourites Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes secure a gold-medal match against Olympic silver medallists April Ross and Jennifer Kessy from USA.
Antonelli-Talita beat Australia's Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) thanks to some strong support from the stands. "It's realy great to play in Brazil, with the support of the fans," said Talita afterwards. "The Campinas public are our third player."
In her summary, Australia's Bawden put the win down a strong serving display from Antonelli. "There was a lot of heat on the serves today. I think that was probably the best service game I've experienced playing against Maria, she was strong today."
Ross-Kessy were forced to win their semi-final against Germany's Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler from a set down, but eventually closed out the match 2-1 (21-23, 21-17, 16-14) despite trailing by a couple of points going into the closing stages of the deciding set.
The women's medal matches on centre court tomorrow will start with Holtwick-Semmler against Bawden-Clancy for bronze at 09:30, and then Ross-Kessy against Antonelli-Talita for gold scheduled for 10:30.>>
SETTIMA NEWS ( by www.fivb.org) / GERMANY CHARGE BACK FROM A SET DOWN TO WIN BRONZE
( Katrin Holtwick shows her delight to partner Ilka Semmler after winning bronze )
Campinas, Brazil, June 1, 2013 - Germany's Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler recovered from losing a close semi-final against USA on Friday by claiming the bronze medal with a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-10) win against Australia's Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy on the penultimate day of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final.
The centre court in Campinas was again bathed in Brazilian sunshine for women's finals day and it was the Australian pair that made the stronger start. Clancy in particular posed Germany all sorts of problems at the net and her point scoring was the principal reason the seventh seeds took the first set 21-16.
"We work very hard on a strong team game that brings a lot of physicality so we can make the best of our size, and a lot of aggression to go for the hard angles of the court," said Bawden. "We executed that really well in the first set, and showed that our game, when it's at its best, is unstoppable."
Holtwick-Semmler regrouped and changed tactics in the second set, dropping off the net more to defend Clancy's attacks and try to keep the ball in play. The strategy worked and Germany won the set 21-19 to level the match at 1-1 and send it into a tie-break.
The German pair got ahead in the tie-break and maintained their lead to take the set 15-10 and earn their second bronze medal of the season, after also coming third at the Fuzhou Open, China in April, as well as $22,500 in prize money.
"It was a really tough, but a really good game," said Semmler. "We managed to resolve our [first-set] problems in the second, we improved our return of the ball, defence and blocking. We entered the third set knowing that we needed to give all we could and it worked."
Afterwards, Australia's Bawden acknowledged Germany's tactical switch at the end of the first set was a crucial change. "They had to [switch]," she said. "After the first set they couldn't defend the court, there was too much of the court available for Taliqua to hit into. So, they made some changes, we made a few more mistakes and that's all it takes when you're playing high-level competition."
OTTAVA & LAST NEWS ( by www.fivb.org ) / BRAZIL’S REUNITED PAIR CLAIM GOLD ON HOME SAND
( Back together again, Brazil's Talita Da Rocha Antunes (facing camera) and Maria Antonelli claimed gold )
Campinas, Brazil, June 1, 2013 - Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes sent the Campinas crowd wild with a 2-0 (23-21, 21-12) win against USA's Olympic silver medallists April Ross and Jennifer Kessy to claim gold and the title of Continental Cup champions on the penultimate day of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final.
Reunited just for this tournament after both finding success with new partners in 2013, it was Antonelli and Talita's first success in an international competition in Brazil and both were extremely happy with the familiar combination and the result.
"We still have a very good understanding," said Talita. "Even better than what we have at the moment with our current partners. We wanted to play this tournament remembering all the good things we've done together. It was really good to play alongside Maria again, we have a real energy on the court and I'm very happy we managed to win."
The first set was a close battle, but just as in Brazil's semi-final win against Australia Antonelli's serves were a handful for her opponents and Brazil forced a USA error to take the set 23-21.
"We were having trouble setting Maria's jump serves," admitted Ross after. "It was hard for me to push it up to the net. Certain conditions favour certain servers and I think Maria has a lot of topspin on her jump serves, so she was fine in these conditions."
Brazil raced into an early lead in the second set and never relinquished the advantage to claim the second set 21-12 and a 2-0 victory that the Campinas public lapped up. Alongside the gold medals, they also received the title of Continental Cup champions and $50,000 prize money.
"I'm so happy because this tournament is new, it was staged in Brazil and we managed to represent our country in the best way possible," said a proud Antonelli, acknowledging the local support partner Talita had described as the pair's "third player" on Friday.
Even the USA were happy with the local support, with Kessy admitting that it was the nicest Brazilian fans had ever been with them. "Today they were respectful," she said. "They weren't cheering for us, but they weren't cheering against us. The atmosphere was fantastic, it's always good in Brazil. Even if they have 200 fans, the Brazilians are as loud as 7,000 fans."
Ross-Kessy received $35,000 in prize money in addition to their silver medals as tournament runners-up.>>
EXTRATIME by SS/ La cover è per la brasiliana Talita Da Rocha Antnes in versione cappellino e sorriso smile da medaglia d’oro.
Poi nella fotogallery partiamo onorando in kit tandem la coppia azzurra formata da Greta Cicolari e Viktoria Orsi Toth con relativa Photo Gallery/ Main Draw e successiva foto in gara a campinas.
Da dove proponiamo la grinta della tedesca Katrin Holtwick prima in foto single e poi in foto tandem con Ilka Semmler con la quale ha conquistato a Campinas la medaglia di bronzo.
Giusto preludio alla foto ( sempre by www.fivb.org) della coppia winner formata da Talita Da Rocha Antunes & Maria Antonelli “Golden World Cup”.
Sergio Sottovia
www.polesinesport.it
