Porec, Croatia, June 6, 2015 - No. 6 has been collected by Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca as the Brazilian women have now won back-to-back FIVB World Tour gold medals by defeating Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan of Canada for the title at the US$800,000 Porec Major here Saturday.
Playing for gold in the inaugural SWATCH Major Series event, the top-seeded Talita and Larissa posed a 2-1 (21-16, 25-27, 15-12) win in 46 minutes over 17th-seeded Bansley and Pavan, who were playing in the second FIVB World Tour finale in the past three weeks after netting the silver medal in the Czech Republic where they lost the Prague finale to another Brazilian pair.
With the win, Talita and Larissa avenged twice this week their only setback this season as the Canadians had defeated the Brazilians at last week’s Moscow Grand Slam in pool play. Talita and Larissa, who defeated Bansley and Pavan in pool play this week, have now won 42 of their last 43 matches on the FIVB World Tour. The Brazilians had a 29-straight winning streak before losing to Bansley and Pavan in the Russian capital.
With their sixth gold medal in eight international starts together, Talita and Larissa shared the $57,000 first-place prize along with garnering 800 points to improve their FIVB World Tour rank fourth after playing in only two of the five women’s events this season. Bansley and Pavan, the No. 3-ranked team with four events this season, split $43,000 for second-place along with gathering 720 points.
Talita and Larissa advanced to the finals with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win in 37 minutes over 18th-seeded Jamie Broder and Kristina Valjas in the first world tour meeting between the two teams. The Canadians are the top-ranked team on the FIVB World Tour by playing in the first five events.
Bansley and Pavan, who lost to Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas in the Czech Republic gold medal match, scored a 2-1 (21-13, 15-21, 15-13) semi-final win in 49 minutes over 22nd-seeded Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy of Australia. The win avenged a pair of three-set setbacks to the Australians last season at “major” events in Russia and The Hague.
In the bronze medal match, Bawden and Clancy scored a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win in 35 minutes over Broder and Valjas. The Canadians had previously defeated Bawden and Clancy in a pool play match last August in Stare Jablonki, Poland. The Aussies split $32,000 for third and Broder/Valjas shared $24,000 for fourth-place.
With Canada standing on the second spot on the podium, the North American country has now earned four medals in five FIVB World Tour events this season. Prior to the 2015 campaign, a Canadian women’s team had never earned a podium position since the start of international competition in 1992. With the “final four” appearances Saturday, the Canadians became the first women’s teams from their country to reach the semi-finals at a “major” FIVB World Tour event.
With the women concluding Porec Major play Saturday, the men’s semi-finals and medal matches will be played Sunday with pairs from Canada, Italy and The Netherlands vying for the gold medal. Following this and next week’s SWATCH Major Series event in Norway (June 9-14), the FIVB World Tour crosses the Atlantic Ocean for an event in the United States in St. Petersburg, Fla. (June 16-21). The June schedule ends with the start of the world championships in The Netherlands (June 26-July 5).