Rome, Italy, June 23, 2013 – The teams of Sean Rosenthal and Phil Dalhausser of the USA and Brazil’s Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima gave themselves huge confidence boosts little more than a week before the start of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
The duos claimed gold in the men’s and women’s tournaments at the smart Grand Slam – Rome, the final FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament before the cream of the beach volleyball descends on Stare Jablonki in Poland for the year’s major tournament.
Rosenthal and Dalhausser beat Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins in the men’s gold medal match, while Talita and Taiana held of the determined challenge of the USA’s Jennifer Kessy and April Ross.
Rosenthal and Dalhausser off mark with gold in Rome
Rosenthal and Dalhausser won their first World Tour gold medals when they held off the challenge of Smedins and Samoilovs. The US pair beat the Latvian’s 21-19, 21-18 to earn Rosenthal his second consecutive gold medal in Rome, a year after he and Jacob Gibb had topped the podium.
While Smedins and Samoilovs were unable to add to the Corrientes Grand Slam gold that they won earlier in their first year together as a team, the silver medals are the second they have won in two weeks, having finished second at The Hague Grand Slam.
Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Pedro Salgado ensured that they would be on the podium for a second consecutive tournament by beating fellow Brazilians Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti 2-0 (21-10, 21-10) in the bronze medal match.
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Talita and Lima make it treble joy with Roman gold
Talita and Lima won their third gold medal of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with victory in the women’s gold medal match. The Brazilian pair beat Kessy and Ross to win 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-12) and add the Rome gold to their victories in The Hague and Shanghai Grand Slams.
For Kessy and Ross the silver is their third set of medals from the Rome Grand Slam. They won gold at the 2010 edition and bronze in 2012. They too have success at the World Championships in their sights and are out to match their 2009 win.
Their fellow Brazilians Liliane Maestrini and Barbara Seixas De Freitas won their first FIVB medals together since they claimed the 2007 U21 World Championships by winning the bronze with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) victory over Germany’s Britta Buthe and Karla Borger.
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The Rome Grand Slam was the fourth Grand Slam of 10 on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The competition runs from June 17 until June 23, when both the men’s and women’s finals took place.