Lausanne, Switzerland, March 28, 2018 - Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola have secured the domestic beach volleyball title in Brazil with a tournament to spare in the National Circuit, after picking up a bronze in the latest stop at Maceio and bulding up an insurmountable lead in the rankings ahead of the conclusion of the tour next week in Aracaju.
It is the first domestic title for the reigning world champions, who were also named 'Team of the Year' in 2017 on the FIVB circuit.
The pair reached the final in four of the six stages so far in the Brazil Tour, crowned champions in Campo Grande, Itapema and Joao Pessoa, and finishing runners-up in Fortaleza - in addition to their bronze in Maceio. With 2,120 points in the rankings, Evandro and Andre can not be reached by Vitor Felipe and Guto, who stand at 1,640.
"I'm happy to get another title for our team, especially since we have just over a year of partnership. This success is something very important, merit of our technical team, the nine people who work hard, mine and Andre's. We sweat so much everyday that the results happen. Our families were also fundamental," said Evandro.
Evandro and Andre joined forces in December 2016, after the Rio de Janeiro giant of 2m10 broke up his partnership with Pedro Solberg, with whom he played in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Andre had been playing alongside Olympic champion Ricardo and accepted to form the new team, moving to Rio de Janeiro.
The pair currently stand in sixth place in the FIVB World Tour Rankings and are next scheduled to appear at the FIVB Huntington Beach Open - a four-star tournament to be held in California on the first week of May.
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