News Beach volleyball 21/07/2014 Switzerland finds gold in Mexico at Men’s FIVB U17 World Championships Acapulco, Mexico, July 20, 2014 — Crowningan already amazing adventure thousands of miles from their homeland,Switzerland’s Florian Breer/Yves Haussener to defeat Spain’s OscarJimenez/Alejandro Huerta to win the cherished gold medal to conclude the inauguraldouble-gender FIVB Beach Volleyball U17 World Championships being held inAcapulco, Mexico.With an overflow crowd cheering every point the entire day at the PlayaTamarindos event site, earning the final spot on the Acapulco podium prior tothe gold medal matches was France’s Marc Darrieux/Timothee Platre who defeatedCanada’s Jordan Pereira/Taryq SaniStarting with a men’s field of 25 teams representing each of the five FIVBConfederations four were still standing to play in Sunday’s semifinals, bronzemedal and gold medal matches. With three countries in the final four from theEuropean Confederation (CEV) (France, Spain, Switzerland), Canada is from theNorth and Central America Confederation (NORCECA).SWITZERLAND’s GOLDEN MOMENTIn the men’s gold medal finale between unbeaten teams both with 7-0records, Switzerland’s Breer, 15/Haussener, 16, both of Basel continued toremain focused, taking one point at a time to finally overcome Spain’sJimenez/Huerta, both 16 and both living in Tenerife in three glorious beachvolleyball sets, 22-20, 20-22 and 15-11 in 56 minutes. Switzerland’s Breer wasselected the men’s Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.Switzerland’s gold medalists Breer/Haussener duo were unblemished in thetournament, going 8-0 with elimination round wins over teams from Russian,Italy and Canada before their tournament-ending victory over Spain.Spain’s silver medalists Jimenez/Huerta duo was unbeaten in pool play at 4-0with elimination round wins over teams from the USA, Netherlands and Francebefore losing in the final to leave Acapulco with a 7-1 record in addition totheir medals.As challenging as the tournament was for these young athletes, the climaticgold medal match was the pinnacle of friendly competition as the two teams thattrain together frequently and are friends off of the court were relentless onthe court Sunday. The final edge might have been that Switzerland’sBreer/Haussener have been playing as a team for nearly three years.Playing the first two sets like they knew each other, which of course they doas they have not only trained together but played before in competition withSpain winning the last meeting in pool play at the European qualificationtournament for this event, they split the first two sets with both going toovertime.Switzerland’s Breer/Haussener played with poise and patience, doggedly dodgingsituations that could have turned the third and deciding set around. The thirdset was tied eight times up to 10-10 when scored three straight points andafter another of Spain’s Huerta’s numerous kills, Switzerland score the finaltwo points on a Haussener kill off of Jimenez and the match ended dramaticallywith Breer’s block of a Huerta kill attempt.SWISS PLAYERS COMMENTSSwitzerland’s gold-medal winning Breer remarked between sighs of relief andoutbursts of joy, “Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. We take our sportvery serious and to receive a reward like this is so amazing I almost can’t putit into words. We finished second in the European qualifying tournamentfor this event, but we were still sure of ourselves and that we could play welland do a good job. For Switzerland and our coach this gold medal is a big thankyou.”With his sentiments between huge gulps of water, Switzerland’s other gold medalwinner Haussener reflected, “This was a tough, tough match. The Spanish guyswould never quit, but we didn’t think they would. We stayed calm aspossible and we were able to take advantage when we could and it was just enoughto win this wonderful championship. I hope we have many more in thefuture, and we are really happy to be able to have a wild card in one FIVBWorld Tour event.BRONZE TO FRANCEIn the men’s bronze medal match for the final spot on the podium, what turnedout to be closer than expected because of their semifinal losses, France’s MarcDarrieux/Timothee Platre fell behind in both sets and came back to defeatCanada’s Sharone Vernon Evans/Parvir Jhajj, 26-24, 21-19 in 42 minutes.In the first set of the bronze medal match, France’s Darrieux/Platre clawedtheir way back in after being down to Canada’s Evans/Jhajj 6-1 at the start ofthe set. After that, Canada still led 12-9 at the technical time out, beforeFrance rallied to squeek by in the first set, 26-24 by scoring the final twopoints.In the second set, Canada kept fighting, ahead 11-10 at the technical time outand scored the next two points for a 13-10 lead before France battled backagain to take the lead and eventually win the set and the match to secure thespecial medal from the first-time event.France’s Darrieux/Platre duo won the bronze medal match and leave with a 6-2record, having eliminated teams from Costa Rica and the United States in theelimination rounds before the semifinal loss to Spain who gave them their onlyother loss in Acapulco. Canada’s Evans/Jhajj tandem finished in fourth place a 5-2 record, unbeaten inpool play followed by elimination round victories over teams from Mexico andPoland before their semifinal loss to Switzerland and bronze medal setback toFrance. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News