FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme inspires France to bronze at Saquarema Challenge

· Remi Bassereau and Julien Lyneel of France defeated Austria’s Martin Ermacora and Philipp Waller in the third-place playoff to claim bronze

· Inspired by the home crowd, George Wanderley and Andre Loyola Stein defeated Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo 2-1 in the men’s final

· China’s Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi rallied from a set down to defeat Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann 2-1 in the women’s final

FIVB Volleyball Empowerment teams continued to impress on the Beach Pro Tour as Remi Bassereau and Julien Lyneel of France clinched bronze during the Saquarema Challenge event, held between 28 to 31 March in Saquarema, Brazil.

FIVB has invested CHF 615,000 into coach support in France, with Lissandro Carvalho leading both the senior men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams.

The French pair defeated Austria’s Martin Ermacora and Philipp Waller 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-12) in the third-place playoff to claim bronze after losing by a similar margin to eventual champions George Wanderley and Andre Loyola Stein of Brazil in the semifinals.

It was the first Beach Pro Tour medal won by the French pair, who moved to the sand from indoor volleyball in 2022.

Cheered on by the home crowd, Wanderley and Stein defeated the pair from Cuba, Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 19-17) in a tense final, to claim the gold.

This winning team from Brazil recovered from a false start that saw them lose their opening match 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) to Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer of Switzerland on Friday. They then won six matches in a row, the last of which came in the final, to take the title.

Diaz and Alayo, who also took silver at the previous Challenge stop in Recife, had beaten Ermacora and Waller 2-1 (17-21, 21-14, 15-11) to qualify for the final.

The women’s podium at the Saquarema Challenge event.

In the women’s category, China’s Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi rallied from a set down to defeat Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann 2-1 (23-25, 24-22, 15-11) in a thrilling final.

The pair from China, coached by Brazilian Ricardo de Freitas, finished the tournament unbeaten having defeated Hegeile ‘Hege’ Almeida and Vitoria Rodrigues of Brazil 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) in the semi-finals.

In an all-Brazil third-place play-off, Taina Lima and Talita Antunes edged out Almeida and Rodrigues 2-1 (21-16,18-21,15-09) to earn their first medal since their most recent reunion, having enjoyed multiple stints as partners in the last decade.