The Czech duo won the four-star tournament in Ostrava in front of their fans

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Slukova and Hermannova were pushed by thousands of Czech fans in Ostrava (Photocredit: FIVB)

Czech stars Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova made the day of their home fans this Sunday as the duo topped the podium of the World Tour four-star event in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in front of thousands of supporters in the city’s industrial park. The men’s gold medal was also captured by a European team as Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira finished on top.

It was the second World Tour gold medal won by the Czech tandem since they joined forces in 2015. In the final, Hermannova, an Ostrava-native, and Slukova came from behind to post a 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-13) victory over Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson and Heather Bansley, who were playing in their first final together.

🥇🇨🇿❤️ #gold

733 Likes, 21 Comments - Markéta Sluková-Nausch🏐🏖 (@beach_maki) on Instagram: "🥇🇨🇿❤️ #gold"

“We’re very happy to win gold medal here, it’s an unforgettable moment,” Hermannova said after the match. “It was a very emotional match and I'll need some time to really absorb everything that happenened here. We had lost to them before and we didn't want it to happen again."

In the bronze medal match, Margareta Kozuch and Karla Borger dominated the German duel with Victoria Bieneck and Isabel Schneider to win it in straight sets (21-19, 21-18). It was the first medal for the team and the first World Tour medal for Kozuch, who transitioned from indoor to the beach in 2017.

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OstravaBeachOpen bronze for Borger and Kozuch of Germany 🇩🇪 on the #BeachWorldTour! They are really happy... #beachvolleyball @TeamGER_Volley https://t.co/4Be7a9N31v

Herrera and Gavira, who have one of most long-lasting partnerships of international beach volleyball, used their experience to prevail over Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor in three sets (27-25, 15-21, 15-11) and win their third World Tour gold medal together.

The Spaniards started the tournament with a setback to Canada’s Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman, but bounced back with six straight victories, including back-to-back triumphs over Rio 2016 silver medalists Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai of Italy and bronze medalists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands.

“It was a great tournament for us”, Gavira commented. “We played really well during the entire week and we deserved it. We are really happy and we want to enjoy this gold medal.”

Congrats to Herrera/Gavira from Spain to first place! 🥇👏 #ostravabeachopen #beachworldtour #ostrava #fivb #czechrepublic 📸: Adolf Horsinka

35 Likes, 1 Comments - Ostrava Beach Open (@ostrava_beach_open) on Instagram: "Congrats to Herrera/Gavira from Spain to first place! 🥇👏 #ostravabeachopen #beachworldtour #ostrava..."

Russian qualifiers Konstantin Semenov and Ilya Leshukov frustrated the medal hopes of the Czech team of Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner and claimed bronze following a hard-fought 2-1 (14-21, 21-18, 26-24) victory in the third place match. It was the second medal for the Russian team, which won gold in the three-star tournament in Mersin in May.

Asians reign supreme in Singapore

In Singapore, the two-star event held in Sentosa was dominated by Asian teams, who grabbed four of the six medals in play, including both golds, with Japan’s Reika Murakami/Chiyo Suzuki and China’s Peng Gao/Yang Li.

Murakami and Suzuki won their first gold together with a straight-set (23-21, 21-15) victory over fellow Japanese Ayumi Kusano and Takemi Nishibori. Germans Sarah Schneider and Anna Behlen completed the podium after their 2-1 (27-25, 13-21, 15-11) triumph against Sweden’s Sigrid Simonsson and Tadva Yoken in the bronze medal match.

Gao and Li found their way in to the top of the men’s podium after they prevailed in two sets (21-14, 21-17) against Estonia’s Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tisaar in the final. Indonesia’s Mohammad Ashfiya and Candra Rachmawan won bronze with a straight-set (28-26, 22-20) victory over Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik and Nejc Zemljak.

Brazil and Japan win in Turkey

In Turkey, the gold medals of the one-star tournament went to the necks of teams from Brazil and Japan as the tandems of Oscar Guimaraes/Luciano Ferreira and Satono Ishitsubo/Asami Shina topped the podium in the city of Manavgat.

In the men’s tournament, Oscar and Luciano triumphed 2-0 (21-14, 23-21) over Denmark’s Kristoffer Abell and Daniel Thomsen. The Netherlands’ Jannes van der Ham and Svens Vismans finished third after a three-set (14-21, 21-16, 15-11) victory over Spain’s Alejandro Huerta and Javier Huerta.

☪︎⋆｡˚✩ FIVB World Tour Turkey Manavgat☆ . Champion!!!!! . いや、最高の気分すぎる！！！ 何回もしんどい場面あったけど！ よー耐えた◎ . 今日はビール一杯で我慢せんでええわ！ 予定通り最高の気分でビール飲む🍻 こっちのビールとってもおいしい🍺 飲んで寝て明日ちと観光して帰りまーす！ . ルチアーノがばかかっこよかったです🤤 最初の写真がお気に入り◎✨ #さとあさ🐰🐶 #athome #tdb #beachvolley #worldtour2018 #manavgat #優勝しちまったよ

219 Likes, 40 Comments - ishitsubo satono (@satono.1201) on Instagram: "☪︎⋆｡˚✩ FIVB World Tour Turkey Manavgat☆ . Champion!!!!! . いや、最高の気分すぎる！！！ 何回もしんどい場面あったけど！ よー耐えた◎ ...."

Among the women, Ishitsubo and Shina won gold in just their second World Tour tournament together as they prevailed over Belgium’s Sarah Cools and Lisa Van Den Vonder after the three-set (17-21, 21-13, 21-19) final. The home team of Merve Nezir and Aleyna Vence claimed bronze with its 2-1 (9-21, 21-16, 15-12) triumph over Japan’s Erika Habaguchi and Yurika Sakagushi.

The World Tour continues next week with the double-gender four-star tournament in Warsaw, Poland.