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Beach volleyball 25/08/2013

First Grand Slam gold for Maria Clara and Carolina Salgado

Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2013 – Maria Clara and
Carolina Salgado claimed their first Grand Slam gold on Sunday at the Vodny
Stadium in Moscow. The Brazilian sisters defeated Germany’s Laura Ludwig and
Kira Walkenhorst 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) in the final.

The bronze medal went to Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo
McMillan after a 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) win over Italy’s Marta Menegatti and
Viktoria Orsi Toth.

After almost missing out on the knockout phase by one point on Friday, Maria
Clara and Carolina decided that this luck should have a follow-up.

“We wanted this gold so bad”, Carolina said. “We knew we had to do it right
here today, if we wanted the gold. We were tired, but strong in our heads.”

The Brazilians sisters served strong from the beginning and were very
determined in winning the rallies. “When you play this team, you have to serve
good, because they have a strong attack”, Carolina said.

Germany, chanceless in the first set, took a lead right from the start of the
second set, but from 11-11 Brazil took over again and held on to their
two-point-lead till the end.

Long-time partners Maria Clara and Carolina had already won a gold medal before
at the Myslowice Open. This year, when Carolina came back after her pregnancy,
they were successful from the start with two bronze medals in Shanghai and
Corrientes and two silvers in The Hague and Long Beach.

For new team Ludwig and Walkenhorst the silver was a nice step up from the
bronze medal they won at the European Championships in Klagenfurt this year.
For Ludwig, who won bronze in Moscow with Sara Goller in 2009, this is her 13th
individual World Tour medal, but gold is still missing.

“It would have been great to win the gold medal”, Ludwig said. “But it is our
first year and we did pretty good. So it’s cool. It was a long time ago I was
in a final and for Kira the first time.”

Liliana and Baquerizo win first Grand Slam medal

After they put aside their disappointment over losing the semifinal to Brazil,
Liliana and Baquerizo claimed their first Grand Slam medal, after silver at the
Anapa Open last year and the Fuzhou Open this year. Just recently they also won
a silver medal at the European Championships.

“We really wanted a medal, but it was mentally hard to recharge”, Baquerizo
said. “We were disappointed. It was just the way we played”, Liliana said. “We
played really good in the last three matches yesterday, but not in the semi. So
we are happy with bronze.”

FIVB
Moscow Grand Slam Tournament Page

FIVB
Moscow Grand Slam Men’s Main Draw

FIVB
Moscow Grand Slam Women’s Main Draw

FIVB Moscow Grand Slam Twitter
Account

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