And defeat new partnership of Barbara and Carol in weekend’s final
Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa carried the good form in which they ended 2020 into the new year as the duo topped the podium of the first event of the Brazilian Circuit in 2021 this weekend in Saquarema.
Agatha and Duda, who secured their third victory in a row on the tour at the completion of the seventh event of the 2020-2021 season, faced the newly-formed team of Barbara Seixas and Carol Salgado in the final. Barbara was Agatha’s partner when the two won silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics and gold at the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Partners since 2017, the 37-year-old Agatha and 22-year-old Duda used their chemistry to come out on top with a 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) win and claim their fourth gold medal in the national season. According to Duda, the team also needed a fair amount of patience to prevail in the tournament.
“Patience was a key element all week because we had a break for the holidays and physically we aren’t back where we were,” the defender, a two-time FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Most Outstanding Player, remarked. “Sometimes, being strong mentally is what matters the most. They’re a new team, but we watched film, knew what we had to do and stuck together to execute our plan.”
The victory in Saquarema opens in great fashion what is expected to be a big year for the team with the Tokyo Olympics on the horizon. Even though the qualification process is still ongoing, the Brazilian Federation has already announced that they will be selected to represent the country in Japan should Brazil have two women’s berths secured at the deadline.
To the experienced Agatha, the confidence the team have acquired with their most recent results, which include six gold medal match appearances and four titles in seven tournaments on the Brazilian Circuit, should make them even stronger heading into the Games.
“The most valuable thing this sort of consistency brings is confidence,” she said. “Our physical peak is yet to come and we understand we need to play against the international teams to further improve our strategy and make tactical tweaks in our game, but we want to use these good results as a launching pad for us this season.”
Besides Barbara and Carol, another team also got to celebrate their first medals together as 24-year-old Andressa Cavalcanti and 21-year-old Vitoria de Souza claimed bronze. The two, who are both FIVB U-21 world champions, downed veterans Juliana Felisberta and Josi Alves in two sets 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) to finish third.
Agatha and Duda top the rankings in Brazil with 2,320 points. Reigning national champions Ana Patricia Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti, who finished fifth this weekend, are second with 2,000.
Next weekend will see the men heading to Saquarema for the seventh event of their national season. The women will return to the Brazilian Federation’s training facility from February 18 to 21.
