The second Major Series event of the year saw a Brazilian team grab the title – a rare occasion these days. The oil capital of Norway, Stavanger, and its splendid, picturesque harbour were the location for the triumph of Pedro Salgado and his new partner Evandro Goncalves. The two already enjoyed titles at the domestic Circuito Banco do Brasil and the pre-season friendly tournament in Rio de Janeiro, but have now won their first official international event together since the launching of their partnership at the end of 2014.
Improving on their second-place finish at the Moscow Grand Slam in Russia two weeks ago, Pedro-Evandro started the week shakily, losing in the Main Draw’s Pool G opener to Germany’s Bรถckermann-Flรผggen in three sets (12-21, 21-17, 13-15), only to score an immaculate record enroute to winning the Viking swords on Sunday. The Brazilians needed slightly more than half an hour to demonstrate their supremacy in every aspect over Poland’s Losiak-Kantor in the final (21-13, 21-14). The win is very special for Brazilian beach volleyball as the country has been suffering on international stage for the past three years. The gold in Stavanger is the first one for Brazil this season, following the recent domination by many European teams, and the first since August 2014, when again Pedro and his former teammate Alvaro Filho topped the standings at the Stare Jablonki Grand Slam.
Norway is not just an ordinary location for one of the two Brazilians. Pedro Solberg Salgado has Norwegian roots, as his father is Norwegian and his mother – a legendary Brazilian volleyball player.
Poland and its beach volleyball school had reasons to celebrate next to Brazil. Losiak-Kantor grabbed the silver medals as consolation, but were accompanied by their compatriots Fijalek-Prudel on the podium. It was the first weekend in history when two Polish teams reached the medal steps. The youngsters Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor survived the preliminary qualifications to gain the right to participate in the Main Draw in Stavanger. The U23, Youth and Junior World champions did so well there that they won their second pair of medals, following the bronze distinctions at the Sao Paulo Grand Slam in 2014.
The third-place match saw Fijalek-Prudel, Poland’s best tandem and top seeds at this week’s ongoing St. Petersburg Grand Slam in USA, prevail over the Italian twins Ingrosso, Matteo and Paolo, in straight sets (21-13, 21-15). The Ingrosso brothers could not step on the podium for the second time in their careers, with the only appearance there being last year at the Puerto Vallarta Open when they lost the title to Latvia’s Samoilovs-Smedins. Team Ingrosso started the Stavanger Major from the qualifiers, had to sweat a lot there against Solhaug-Bergerud and Virgen-Ontiveros, made it to the knock-out stage thanks to a forfeit by Alvaro Filho and Vitor Felipe, and eliminated the legends Ricardo and Emanuel to mark third event out of five this season when we have had Italians battling in the semifinals.
