Brazil will play the two finals of the Beach Volleyball World Cup, tomorrow Sunday (19), at Foro Italico, in Rome. This Saturday, Duda and Ana Patrícia qualified for the women’s final by beating the Swiss Heidrich and Vérge/Dépré well by 2 sets to 0, with partials of 21/19 and 21/13, then Renato and Vitor Felipe beat Schalke and Brunner, of the United States, also 2-0, with 21/17 and 21/19.

Duda, Ana Patrícia and Renato were all two-time World Under-19 Champions at grassroots level and, like Vitor Felipe, reached the first Adult World Cup final. Tomorrow, the deciding matches are at 3:00 p.m. for the women against Bukovec and Brandie of Canada and at 4:00 p.m. for the men against favorites Mol and Sorum of Norway. Before, at 12:15 p.m., André Stein and George battle for bronze against Schalke and Brunner,

On the women’s side, Brazil were unlucky in the draw and could only achieve, at most, a double in the semi-finals, since the four teams that went to the World Cup are fell in the same quadrant of the knockout table. To reach the semi-final, Duda and Ana Patrícia eliminated Bárbara Seixas and Carol Solberg and the Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, current world champions, who in turn eliminated Talita/Rebecca and Taiana/Hegê.

With the medal guaranteed, Duda, 23, and Ana Patrícia, 24, reach the international level that was always expected of them, two of the best players trained in Brazil in the last ten years, at least. Together they won gold at the 2014 Youth Olympics and two Under-19 world titles, in 2016 and 2017, but as adults they have followed parallel paths, playing with friends. other partners. Duda even won the circuit in 2018 and the world finals in 2018 and 2019, with Ágatha.

In the last Olympic cycle, Duda/Ágatha and Ana Patrícia/Rebecca were the country’s leading pairings, but suffered tough and unexpected defeats in Tokyo. In the case of Ana Patricia and Rebecca, exactly in front of the mustaches eliminated today. After the Games in Japan, they ended their duos and came together to try to be the best duo in the world. They are on their way.

On the men’s side, for some time now, hope for a better future has been pinned on 22-year-old Renato Andrew. He was world under-19 champion in 2017, when Duda and Ana Patrícia won their second championship, and repeated the dose later in 2019, with his twin brother Rafael.

For this season, he teamed up with 31-year-old Vitor Felipe, a player who has been part of the world’s beach volleyball elite for some time, but had yet to achieve a result of this size. The duo formed last year, already thinking of the Olympic cycle in Paris.

In the other semi-final, André and George fell to the best duo of the day, the Norwegians Mol and Sorum, Olympic champions in Tokyo and who had already been the executioners of Alison and Guto during the previous phase. This Saturday, the Europeans won 2-0 (21/14 and 21/18) without being threatened at any time.