Brazil's Ribeiro, Antunes win Bali Open volleyball

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali

Renata Ribeiro, 24, and Talita Antunes, 23, of Brazil won the US$200,000 Bali Open beach volleyball championship on Sunday, their second consecutive win in the Swatch-Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Tour after Athens early this month.

The top seeds defeated second seeds, fellow Brazilians Adriana Behar, 36, and Shelda Bede, 32, 21-19, 27-25 in a close and entertaining match.

The two sides were involved in a tight game throughout as they tried hard to find space over the net with blistering spikes.

However, with good blocks and resilient digs, they kept the ball going, spurred on by the enthusiasm of the around 2,500 spectators on Sanur beach.

Ribeiro and Antunes opened with a 2-0 lead, but Adriana and Bede, the silver medalists at the 2004 Olympic Games, leveled at 3-3 before taking over 7-5 thanks to Behar's unchallenged blocks.

Antunes drilled a string of spikes to turn the score to 9-7 before they were pegged back at 10-10 through Bede's countering spikes.

The two sides were tied up to 16-16 when the younger pair pulled once again to a 18-16 lead, courtesy of Antunes' jumping spikes, before sealing the opening game 21-19.

Ribeiro and Antunes continued their dominance in the second game to take charge 15-12.

Behar was conspicuous with her outstanding spikes in the later stage of the game as the pair fought back. They even took a game point, but Ribeiro and Antunes forced the game into a deuce.

After deuces six times, Ribeiro and Antunes wrapped up the game and the match.

"We are very happy to win the final," Ribeiro said in a press conference. "This is the second consecutive win after we won in Athens."

Ribeiro said that it was always difficult to play against fellow Brazilians due to their on-par level of play.

"The key for us to win is that we enjoy ourselves and we play well on the court. Victory is the result," she said.

With the win, Ribeiro and Antunes took home the top prize of US$32,000. Antunes was named the best player of the tournament.

"This award is for both of us actually as I could not have achieved this without Renata (Ribeiro), "Antunes said.

Meanwhile, Behar said they had played a good match, but she and Bede made more mistakes than their opponents.

"We made more mistakes, and our serves are poor today," she said. "Probably we are also slower than we were yesterday."

In the playoff match between semifinal losers, Greek pair Efthalia Koutroumanidou, 23, and Maria Tsiartsiani, 25, defeated Brazilian duo Ana Paula Connelly, 33, and Leila Baros, 34, 21-17, 17-21, 15-13.

The next stop will be Salvador, Brazil (Oct. 18 to Oct. 23), followed by the Acapulco Open, Mexico (Oct. 25 to Oct. 30) and Cape Town Open, South Africa (Nov. 16 to Nov. 20).