SAQUAREMA, Brazil — They’re nonetheless the kings, Andre Loyola and George Wanderley.
No, they could not have carried out as much as their lofty — particularly when enjoying at house in Brazil — requirements final weekend in Recife for the primary Problem of the season. A ninth was a puzzler, even when it included only a single loss within the event. And in actuality, it was that ninth, their worst end in Brazil since 2019, that made for a lot of their opponents on the Seaside Professional Tour level to George and Andre as favorites to win gold this previous weekend in Saquarema.
You merely can’t maintain down George and Andre in Brazil for lengthy.
Whereas the Seaside Professional Tour just isn’t scheduled to cease in Itapema this 12 months, the place Andre and George have gained three straight, it doesn’t a lot matter. It’s tough to overstate the benefit that comes with enjoying at house if you’re a Brazilian crew. In Recife, it was Evandro Goncalves and Arthur Mariano who took gold. It marked the second gold medal of their partnership.
There first got here a 12 months in the past, in Saquarema.
“Particular” is how Evandro described enjoying at house.
It’s simple to see why.
Simply as Evandro and Arthur did in Recife, George and Andre took the lengthy path to the finals on the Saquarema Problem. As Evandro and Arthur did in Recife, George and Andre misplaced their first match of pool, to Swiss qualifiers Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer, a stunner not essentially within the easy matter of shedding, however in how they misplaced. Krattiger and Breer walked everywhere in the Brazilians 21-17, 21-12, stumping them with constant side-out, irritating them defensively.
They’d be the final crew to take action.
The remaining six matches turned a tour de pressure for Andre and George. They knocked out Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner in pool (21-14, 21-19), made fast work of Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk within the first spherical (21-13, 21-17), swept Vinicius Rezende and Heitor Barbosa (21-16, 21-18), then knocked out the ultimate American crew standing, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (21-17, 21-13), to push again into the semifinals. France’s Julian Lyneel and Remi Bassereau, wild playing cards on a scintillating run of their very own, provided some resistance, claiming the primary set, 21-14, earlier than falling within the subsequent two, 18-21, 12-15. France would recuperate from its lone loss properly, beating Austria’s Phillipp Waller and Martin Ermacora for bronze (21-15, 16-21, 15-12).
Solely Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz, finalists in Recife as properly, had been left in the best way of Andre and George. Just like the Brazilians, that they had marched all the best way again from the fortunate loser rounds. Like George and Andre, they appeared to have been awoken, not deflated, from their opening pool play loss, knocking out the Recife bronze medalists, Joaquin Bello and Javier Bello, and top-seeded Pedro and Guto.
Scorching as they had been, they weren’t scorching sufficient.
Not in Brazil. Not in opposition to George and Andre.
The Brazilians gained, 21-18, 17-21, 19-17, sealing their second gold medal of the Olympic qualification interval, the opposite coming, in fact, in Itapema, Brazil a 12 months in the past. It maintains Brazil’s good document in Challenges for male Brazilian groups within the final two years: 4 Problem occasions held — Itapema, Saquarema, Recife, Saquarema — 4 gold medals gained by the house crew.
“We knew it was going to be a troublesome match in opposition to the Cubans,” George stated. “They had been coming from one other ultimate in Recife and are a very good crew. The followers had been superb and actually pushed us to win. It was lovely.”
Ludwig-Lippmann win essential silver at Saquarema Problem
The ladies, too, proved that enjoying at house isn’t any small factor. Two of the 4 semifinalists — Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima, Vitoria de Souza and Hegeile Almeida — had been Brazilians who got here all the best way from the qualifier. Each fell of their respective semifinals, to Germans Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann and China’s Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia, however nonetheless: They supplied lots for the large crowd in Saquarema to pack the stands.
Simply because it went in Recife, nonetheless, when it was a Latvia-Canada ultimate, it was a non-Brazilian ultimate in Saquarema. Xue and Xia gained an incredible match over Ludwig and Lippmann (23-25, 24-22, 15-11), an unlimited outcome for each however particularly the silver medalists, who’re edging nearer to punching their ticket to the Paris Olympic Video games. Xue and Xia are already primarily a assure for Paris, whereas Ludwig and Lippmann jumped from No. 25 to No. 23 and nonetheless have one other end so as to add.
There may be hardly a break on the Seaside Professional Tour. One week of relaxation is all that might be had — many worldwide groups might be having fun with that week of relaxation in Hermosa Seaside and San Diego — earlier than a four-week stretch of tournaments begins: a Problem in Guadalajara and Elite16 in Tepic, Mexico; a Problem in Xiamen, China, and an Elite16 in Brasilia, Brazil.
