Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™

LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

Beach Volleyball - Mixed fortunes for Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's male and female beach volleyball pairs enjoyed mixed results on Monday, with the men losing to Austria but the women crushing Argentina to book a place in the final 16.

Beach Volleyball - Mixed fortunes for Brazil
(Reuters)

Both pairs are considered gold medal favourites on their home sand, but male duo Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt lost to Austria's Alexander Horst and Clemens Doppler 23-21, 16-21, 15-13.

Austria, reeling from a straight sets defeat against Italy on Saturday, fed off a hostile crowd to rumble the Brazilian pair with slick serving and confident spikes.

''Today we really enjoyed it... It was actually good that all the audience was against us. It was more motivation,'' said Doppler. ''We were fighting for every ball.''

Brazil's Cerutti gave full credit to the Austrians for disrupting their flow and said his duo would pick themselves up for their now must-win match against Italy.

News that makes sense

Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Earlier in the day, Brazil's Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas crushed Argentina in straight sets to qualify for the final 16, drawing on a lethal serve and the rapturous home crowd to seal an easy win.

A huge spike from Seixas sent the sand swirling on the first point and set the tone for a 21-11, 21-17 victory in just 40 minutes.

Argentina's Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug fought hard in the second set, taking the lead early on. But a thunderous serve from Seixas to level at 9-9 shifted the momentum back to the Brazilians.

Seixas followed up with a sequence of aces that brought the crowd to their feet. ''I am Brazilian, with much pride and much love,'' they sang in full voice, with many waving the green and yellow national flag.

Another strong serve by Seixas finished the match. The Brazilian pair then waved kisses to the crowd before embracing fans in the front row and posing for selfies.

''We came into this game calmer... Barbara and I have played together for six years, there's great chemistry between us and we always know where the other is,'' Bednarczuk told Reuters after the match. ''We didn't want to give them a chance.''

(Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer, editing by Neil Robinson)


2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Stream now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world