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Brouwer/Meeuwsen claim FIVB Xiamen title

Xinhua, April 23, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Dutch team of Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen claimed gold in their 2017 debut, defeating Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open here on Sunday.

Under the windy conditions on Xiamen's seashore, the Rio Olympic bronze medalists Brouwer/Meeuwsen handed a 21-14, 21-17 defeat to Nicolai/Lupo, runners-up in the Rio Games.

The two teams are no strangers and after the Xiamen final, the two sides are 7-all in their meetings.

Nicolai/Lupo won the three recent clashes, but today was the day for Brouwer/Meeuwsen.

"It's been a while since we've won a tournament. It's our first World Tour Open victory this season, and it's really great," said Brouwer.

"We're from Holland, still the wind is difficult. I think the key thing is to stay positive. Every point you have to work really hard, especially in these circumstances."

"We knew it would be a game of working really hard. I think our tactical game worked out pretty well and we had lots of guts. Just kept serving and hitting the balls at them and it was really convincing," said Meeuwsen.

"They are such a tough partnership, we are about the same age, it's been around seven years we played together now, it's always challenging."

The silver for Nicolai/Lupo is their second medal in Xiamen after they took bronze in 2013.

"We lost the final and we know that we can do something better, but the opponents today played amazing in the serve and put a lot of pressure on us," said Nicolai.

The bronze medal went to Poland's Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz who had lost a tough three-set game to Brouwer/Meeuwsen in the semifinals.

In the third-place playoff, the Polish pair got a better handle of the match to earn their first ever FIVB World Tour medal, beating Germany's Armin Dollinger and Jonathan Erdmann 21-16, 21-17.

FIVB action will return to China for two women-only events - in Nanjing from June 16 to 18 and Nantong from June 23 to 25.

Nanjing will also host the FIVB U21 World Championships from July 11 to 16 and Qinzhou will hold a 3-star World Tour event from October 11 to 15. Endit