Angela and Raquel shock leaders at the Banco do Brazil Beach Volleyball Tour
Santa Catarina, Brazil-Angela Vieira and Raquel Pelucci provided the first major shock of this year's Banco do Brazil Beach Volleyball Tour as they clinched the women's title on the fifth stop of the season in Balneario Camboriu by beating 2010 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour champions Juliana Felisberta and Larissa Franca.
Playing in a final for the first time, Angela and Raquel toppled the leaders, Juliana and Larissa, 2-1 (14-21, 21-19, 15-13) to take their first title on the Brazilian Tour. A former indoor player who won bronze at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Raquel has been playing beach volleyball since 2009.
"This is a moment of great joy," she said. "People always expected a lot from me on the beach for my achievements in the indoor arena. I am driven by challenges and I knew that the results would come. Angela and I have trained very hard to achieve our goals. I am learning a lot from the top players like Larissa and Juliana."
Talita Antunes and Maria Elisa Antonelli defeated Elize Maia and Izabel Bezerra in straight sets (21-17, 21-16) to complete the podium. After the fifth of 12 stops, Larissa and Juliana still lead the championship with 1,920 points while Talita and Antonelli have 1,640, and Taiana Lima and Vivian Cunha 1,560.
Olympians Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos kept up winning ways by claiming their fourth title in the men's competition on Sunday. After dropping the first set against the 'Pedros', Cunha and Salgado, they had to battle in the second set, recovering from 17-20 down before eventually prevailing 2-1 (19-21, 23-21, 15-12).
"We won this match thanks to Ricardo, who got injured in the first set and kept playing," Marcio said. "The game was virtually lost, but we never gave up and managed to react. Thanks to our team as they are the ones who make us play that well."
The leaders have a healthy advantage in the rankings with 1,960 points. Emanuel Rego and 'King of the Beach' Alison Cerutti – who defeated Harley Marques and Thiago Barbosa 2-0 (23-21, 21-15) to finish third – are second with 1,560, followed by Bruno de Paula and Fernando Magalhaes, with 1,360.
Balneario Camboriu also hosted the Banco do Brasil U-21 Tour, with Rebecca Silva and Carolina Horta winning the women's event and the Carvalhaes brothers, Marcus and Gustavo, taking the men's. The sixth stop of the Brazilian Tour – the last before the start of this year's World Tour – will take place in Santa Maria, from April 6-10.
