Argentina and Brazil split South American Tour golds

Beach volleyball teams from Argentina and Brazil came out on top in the first South American continental tournament in 2022 as Ana Gallay/Fernanda Pereyra and Arthur Mariano/Adrielson dos Santos won this weekend’s event in San Juan.

The 35-year-old Gallay, a three-time Olympian, and the 30-year-old Pereyra, a San Juan native, were in great form in the women’s tournament, dropping just one set in the four matches they played. In the final, the Argentinian Tokyo Olympians downed Paraguayans Giuliana Poletti and Erika Bobadilla in straight sets (21-13, 21-17) to claim gold.

The bronze medal went to Chileans Francisca Rivas and Chris Vorpahl, the first women in the country to win a World Tour medal, who defeated Colombians Yuli Ayala and Margarita Guzman 2-0 (21-16, 21-14).

Argentina were close to taking gold in both genders, but the new team formed by the Capogrosso brothers Nicolas, a Tokyo Olympian, and Tomas, fell to Arthur and Adrielson in the final match of their first event as partners.

Playing consistently over the entire week, the Brazilians took the hosts down 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) to complete a perfect weekend in San Juan, in which they won their five matches without dropping any sets, before topping the podium.

Chileans Noe Aravena and Vicente Droguett completed the podium after they finished third claiming a straight-set (21-12, 21-19) victory against the home team of Bautista Amieva and Maciel Bueno.

Next weekend, the South American Tour heads to Montevideo, Uruguay, for the third event of the 2021-2022 season.