Beach volleyball legend Ricardo Santos picked up his 55th FIVB World Tour gold medal on Sunday, winning the Gstaad Grand Slam in Switzerland with his young partner Alvaro Filho.
At 22, Alvaro is 16 years younger than Ricardo, but their combination of youth and experience proved too much for their gold medal opponents and fellow Brazilians, Bruno Schmidt and Pedro Salgado.
Ricardo and Alvaro triumphed 21-16, 21-18.
The gold is the first for Ricardo and Alvaro since they became a team at the start of the year.
Chen Xue and Zhang Xi roared back to form at the World Championships a week ago and continued their winning ways with their first gold on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour this year.
The Chinese women prevented a Brazilian sweep of gold medals, outclassing Liliana Maestrini and Barbara Seixas in the final, 21-16, 21-14.
The gold is Xue and Zhang Xi’s first on the Tour this year and their fourth at the Gstaad Grand Slam following a silver and two bronze in previous years.
The next Grand Slam will take place in Long Beach, California, USA from 22nd to 27th July.
