Shelda
and Adriana reign supreme
4
Nov -In an electric atmosphere
created by 5000 enthusiastic fans,
Adriana Behar and Shelda finished a
perfect season with another gold
medal in the last event of the 2001
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Of
the eleven events this season, the
Brazilian pair won seven, finishing
on top of the World Tour rankings
for a record fifth consecutive year.
Undefeated
up to the final, Holly McPeak and
Kerri Walsh (USA) simply did not
have enough in reserve to take on
the Brazillians, the Fortaleza winds
or the Fortaleza fans in Shelda’s
hometown, going down in two sets 0:2
(19-21, 20-22) in 48 minutes.
After
the match, Holly McPeak had nothing
but complements for new partner.
"She is only 23 and she is
playing so good. We had an equal
game but Adriana and Shelda were
serving very well and that gave them
a small advantage to win the
match," she said.
Winning
in front of a hometown crowd made
the victory even sweeter for Shelda.
"This
is the first time I win in my home
town. The support from the crowd was
fantastic and we were glad to reward
them with the title. Adriana and I
had a very good season and to finish
here with gold was the best we could
imagine,” said the Brazilian.
The
win, their twenty-seventh
international title, also gave
Shelda and Adriana Behar another
record--that of being the most winningest
team in the FIVB World Tour history,
with US$1,141,600 in career prize
money.
For
vetran Liz Masakayan, who announced
her retirement after her semifinal
win, it was also a sweet finish to
the year and her marvellous career,
Masakayan/Denecochea taking the
bronze medal after defeating
Leenstra/Kadijk (NED) 2-1 (22-20,
21-19) in 44 minutes.
"It
was very important for me to get
this first medal of the season in
Brazil and to finish my
participation on the world circuit
on the podium", said Masakayan,
who also won the MVP Speedo trophy
for her performance in this event.
The
women's events for the FIVB World
Tour has been concluded with the
final ranking being:
1.
Adriana Behar/Shelda (BRA) 4002
points
2.
Sandra Pires/Minello (BRA) 2880
points
3.
Fontana/Youngs (USA) 2852 points
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McPeak/Walsh
and Shelda/Adriana Behar to fight out final
Liz
Masakayan announces retirement
3 November, Fortaleza, Brazil
In front of a packed stadium in Saturday's semifinals, Holly McPeak and
Kerri Walsh (USA) and Adriana Behar and Shelda (BRA) set up a classic
encounter for Sunday's final match of the 2001 World Tour.
The USA team had a close tussle against first-time semifinalists Marrit
Leenstra and Rebekka Kadijk (NED), McPeak/Walsh finally taking the match 2-1
(21-12,17-21,15-9) in 52 minutes.
In the second semifinal, world champions Adriana Behar and Shelda showed
the class that has already won them six titles this year, having little difficulty
disposing of Liz Masakayan and Dianne DeNecochea (USA) 2-0 (21-14, 25-23) in
43 minutes.
Although Walsh and McPeak have secured a podium placement in this
last event of the year, they were not satisfied with their performance and
know they will have to improve to defeat the raining World Tour champions,
Adriana Behar/Shelda.
"McPeak was playing wonderfully, but I had problems with the serve. It
wasn't very good today and we need to improve if we want this title,"
said Walsh.
Shelda complained that the Fortaleza winds affected play, but she obviously
had the earlier defeat against the US team on her mind.
"We want to leave Fortaleza with another title so for tomorrow we must
forget the defeat in our previous match against McPeak/Walsh. We really want
to close the season with a gold and we will fight for that," she said.
For the bronze medal match, Masakayan /DeNecochea will face Leenstra/Kadijk,
the best finish this year for both teams.
Liz Masakayan, who dominated the sport with partner Karolyn "KK"
Kirby in the early nineties, and has more than US$600,000 in career prize
money, announced that this would be her last Word Tour Event. "My debut
was in 1992, in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and I thought to say goodbye after 10
years, in Brazil as well".
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