Los Angeles, USA, September 21, 2003 - Brazil's Ricardo Alex Costa Santos and Emanuel Rego claimed their fourth title of the 2003 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour on Sunday when they outclassed Switzerland's Sascha Heyer and Markus Egger in a one-sided final at the $300,000 Nissan Grand Slam.
The dominant Brazilians stamped their authority on the men's Beach game and extended their lead at the top of the FIVB World rankings as Ricardo produced a supreme display of blocking on the way to a 21-11, 21-18 victory over their struggling Swiss opponents.
American Beach veteran Mike Whitmarsh and Canyon Ceman secured the bronze medal earlier in the day with a 22-20, 21-16 triumph over Niki Berger and Clemens Doppler of Austria.
"He's a blocking machine - I remember when I used to play against him how difficult it was," Emanuel said of his 200 cm partner. "The key was to get some early points on the board and force the other team into trying to pressure us later in the set.
"We almost got knocked out during pool play and were feeling a bit shaky, but when we defeated Benjamin and Marcio in the last-16 on Saturday we felt confident we could win the event."
The victory increased Emanuel's FIVB gold-medal haul to a remarkable 40, while his partner now has 20 FIVB titles to his name. It also increases their advantage over their rival Brazilian teams in a tight qualifying race for next year's Olympic Games in Athens.
"I feel I can focus more on getting high at the net to block because I'm confident in my partner's back-court defence," said Ricardo. "I got a few good blocks on Sascha (Heyer) at the start of the first set and after that we decided to serve to him more because I was managing to read his angles."
Ricardo and Emanuel formed their partnership at the start of the season and, worryingly for their opponents, Emanuel feels there is still more room for improvement.
"We're a relatively young team in terms of the time we've been together and I think we can definitely get better before next year's Olympics in Athens," added Emanuel. "I'm starting to read his blocking much better and get out of his shades."
It was the Heyer and Egger's second appearance in an FIVB final and the second time they have had to settle for the silver medal. The duo, who are the third-ranked Swiss pair on the Olympic qualifying standings, reached the final of the Klagenfurt Grand Slam last season where again they were downed by Ricardo and his then-partner Loiola Jose Geraldo.
Despite their loss they can take some consolation from having closed the gap on the other Swiss teams in the qualifying race for Athens.
The men's SWATCH-FIVB World Tour takes a three-week break before recommencing for the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro on October 14. |
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