The men’s beach volleyball finals are complete in Rio, and Brazil has won gold, beating Italy in straight sets.
Robert Meeuwsen and Alexander Brouwer of the Netherlands defeated the Russian team of Konstantin Semenov and Viacheslav Krasilnikov in the bronze medal match.
Meeuwsen and Brouwer were able to take down Semenov and Krasilnikov in straight sets, though both were hard-fought and went down to the wire.
The Dutch duo, who entered the Olympic tournament as the No. 2 seed, won the first set with a score of 23-21 and the second set with a score of 22-20.
The bronze medal earned on behalf of the Netherlands is the first beach volleyball Olympic medal in Dutch history.
In the gold medal match, Brazil’s Bruno Schmidt and Alison Cerutti, the No. 1 seed in the Olympic tournament, went up against Italy’s Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai. It was clear from the start that each team knew how much every point would matter.