Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2015 - Qualifying for the Olympics will bring out the best in teams and the Moscow Grand Slam is the first “big” test on the “Road to Rio”. Just ask Pablo Herrera “how big” Moscow is and he will tell you “it means a lot.
All the best teams in the world are here this weekend and winning in the semi-finals to play for a gold medal is tremendous. It has been over a year since we have played in the semi-finals, so competing for a gold medal in Moscow is tremendous.”
Herrera and Adrian Gavira, who are seeded 12th in the Moscow Grand Slam, will be joined in the finals by 10th-seeded Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Salgado of Brazil after the Spaniards advanced to their first gold medal match since July 2013 by defeating teams from Austria and Germany here Saturday at the Vodny Stadium Beach Sports Center.
Herrera and Gavira opened play Saturday at the Vodny Stadium Beach Sports Center with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) win in 38 minutes over 17th-seeded Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst of Austria before defeating ninth-seeded Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik of Germany 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) in 39 minutes.
The Spaniards will be looking for their first-ever FIVB World Tour gold medal after losing their previous four title appearances. The European country does have two FIVB gold medals with Herrera playing a part in both successes with Javier Bosma in 2004 (Lianyungang, China) and Raul Mesa in 2008 (Kristiansand, Norway). Both gold medals were earned against Brazilian pairs.
The South Americans do have a 3-2 edge in gold medal matches with Spain. One of the gold medal wins was at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games where Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos defeated Herrera and Bosma in the finals. Gavira and Inocencio Lario were defeated for a gold medal in 2008 by Emanuel and Ricardo in Stare Jablonki, Poland.
Evandro and Pedro, who are playing in their first-ever FIVB World Tour event together, had to defeat two Brazilian rivals to advance to Sunday’s final. In a “classic” match with Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, Evandro and Pedro posted a 2-1 (21-17, 17-21, 21-19) victory over the legendary compatriots in the quarter-finals. With second-seeded Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt as their semi-final opposition, Evandro and Pedro scored a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win in 42 minutes.
Alison and Bruno had advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-0 win (21-14, 21-14) in 34 minutes over 14th-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands, the reigning FIVB “senior” Beach Volleyball world champions.
While Pedro has collected 14 gold medals on the FIVB World Tour with four different Brazilian partners, Evandro will be seeking his second after posting a 2013 Berlin Grand Slam win with Vitor Felipe. Evandro is at the start of his fourth full season on the international circuit, Pedro has been a regular since 2006. The US$800,000 Moscow Grand Slam concludes Sunday with the medal matches for both men and women.
After this week’s event, the FIVB World Tour’s first “Major Series” stops are set for Croatia (Poreč, June 1-7) and Norway (Stavanger, June 8-14) before international circuit crosses the Atlantic for the final world championship “tune up” in the United States for the St. Petersburg Grand Slam in Florida (June 15-21).