July 11, 2021: Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes won the bronze-medal match 2 -1 (21-13, 13-21, 17-15) over Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka of Latvia today in Gstaad, Switzerland.
“The Latvian team is a really strong team – they have had a great season,” Pavan said in the post-match interview. “It came down to pass, set and taking care of our side-out. We knew that they would score points, but we had to be patient and keep on fighting and take advantage of the opportunities when we got them.”
- Additional post-match comments in this video: https://youtu.be/tZebKS6la7Y
Pavan (Kitchener, ON) and Humana-Paredes (Toronto, ON), who won the tournament in 2018, were defeated in two sets earlier today in their semi by Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa of Brazil. Yesterday, the Canadians eliminated another Brazilian team on their way to the semifinals as they knocked out veterans Carolina Salgado and Barbara Seixas in two close sets (25-23, 25-23).
Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson (Toronto) and Heather Bansley (Waterdown, ON) finished fifth overall after a quarter-final loss to yet another Brazilian team (Ana Patricia/Rebecca – eventual silver medalists).
Canada’s only men’s entry of Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter finished 17th, as did BC’s McNamara sisters on the women’s side.
Overall, Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot of Netherlands won men’s gold; and Agatha/Duda of Brazil ended up winning the women’s tournament.
Tournament web site: https://en.volleyballworld.com/en/beachvolleyball/worldtour/2021/1022
This was Canada’s Olympic teams’ (Pavan/Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson/Bansley) final test before Tokyo 2020, which begins July 24.
The latest Team Canada Tokyo 2020 roster can be found here and the qualification tracker can be found here.