After 7 days of competition, the winning teams of the 2011 Worldchampionship are finally known:
In the Men's category, the final game opposed two brazilian teams Alison/Emanuel and Ricardo/Marcio which was quite an interesting duel as Ricardo and Emanuel played together very successfully the last years. But everyone who has seen Emanuel and the "Mammoth" (nickname of Alison Cerutti) playing together, could not imagine one stronger team.
So the men's final was unfortunately a game without surprises, as tactically Ricardo/Marcio had a difficult position. Knowing the strenght of attack of Emanuel Rego against the block of Ricardo, they decided to serve on the block player Alison with his 2,03 m, 106 kg and incredible strength, relying on Ricardo's block. On the other side, Alison/Emanuel served on Marcio, who had big difficulties against Alison's block.
The final game was over after 2 sets without big suspense (21-16, 21-15), but a lot of points were very spectacular and athletic.
Third team on the podium were Brink/Reckermann, the german defending world champions.
In the Women category, the final was a lot more intense, as both teams knew difficult moments and better ones. The first set was quite clearly dominated by the brazilian team Larissa/Juliana and the US-Team Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh, three-times-worldchampion, lost the first set on a score of 21-17. If the score was quite clear in the middle of the set, at the end the american team scored well again to reduce the difference.
May/Walsh then continued on their effort in the second set, and this time Juliana/Larissa had to admit the superiority of the US-ladies. Larissa made a series of mistakes, Juliana kept the team in the set but finally the second set went to May/Walsh on a clear score of 21-13.
After this, everyone thought that the unspectacular, but well organised play of the triple american worldcampions would make it to get a fourth title. The tie-break started very well for Misty May and Kerry Walsh and they got an advance of three breakpoints. For the brazilians, if the final was not yet over, it would be a very tough job to get back in the game again.
But with an incredible defensive play of Larissa Franca, and very hard and well placed attacks from Juliana, the brazilian team realized four breakpoints to win finally the gold medal on a score of 16-14 in the tie-break - SPECTACULAR !! A big promotion for Beachvolleyball....
To be complete, the chinese team Xue-Zhang Xi won the bronze-medal.
Final podium - Men:
1) Alison/Emanuel (BRA)
2) Ricardo/Marcio (BRA)
3) Brink/Reckermann (GER)
Final podium - Women
1) Larissa/Juliana (BRA)
2) May-Treanor/Walsh (USA)
3) Xue-Zhang Xi (CHN)
Photos from the 2011 Worldchampionships are online on Picasa Web
(c) Carlo Posing
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