By Sheila Dang
PARIS (Reuters) – Canada and Brazil advanced to the gold medal match of women’s beach volleyball at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, while the German and Swedish men will fight for the title, setting up finales that will produce new champions in both events.
The United States, who were the defending gold medallists in the women’s competition, were eliminated in the quarter-finals, and Canada are now assured of their first ever medal in the event after prevailing over Switzerland.
Brazil fought and won a hard match against Australia and now seek their first gold since 1996.
On the men’s side, Germany upset defending gold medallists Norway and will take on Sweden, who handily beat Qatar in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The Canadian team of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson lost their first set 21-14, but capitalized on Switzerland’s errors of hitting out of bounds to take the next two sets. Both fell to the ground in celebration after winning.
Still, Humana-Paredes conceded she and Wilkerson did not showcase the best of their skills and would need to improve against Brazil on Friday.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best volleyball yet. I think it’s somewhere inside, and hopefully tomorrow we can bring it out,” she said.
DRAMATIC MOMENTS
Both the men’s and women’s semi-finals were marked by exciting plays that had the crowd on their feet.
During the final set point in the third round between the German and Norwegian men, the point was awarded to Norway. But Germany successfully challenged the point after requesting a review of a fault by Norway, and won the match.
In the match between Brazil and Australia, the latter started off strong but began to falter in the second set, as Brazil won the round with a wide lead of 21-15.
In the third set, Brazil spiked the ball past their opponents, landing it just inside the bounds to take the win.
“I don’t even know what to say. I still can’t believe it,” said Brazil’s Eduarda Santos Lisboa. “When I did that (attack), I wasn’t even aware of what was happening.”
(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Paris; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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