Playing in their second tournament together, they took down a Brazilian team in the final of the three-star event

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Waller and Seidl celebrate their first World Tour gold medal (Photocredit: FIVB)

Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller didn’t take long to click together as the Austrians claimed the gold medal of the World Tour three-star event in Haiyang, China, just their second tournament together. Americans Emily Day and Betsi Flint were the winners among the women.

Seidl, 28, and Waller, 22, had first played together last June, in Baden, where they finished ninth. In Haiyang, they had six straight victories, including a 2-1 (10-21, 25-23, 15-8) triumph over Brazilians Thiago Barbosa and George Wanderley in the final, to win their first-ever international gold medals.

“I already had a silver and bronze and I really wanted to get the gold, so now here it is,” Seidl said. “It was a perfect and fitting win. It was really hard because we clearly lost the first set, but we kept our head in the game and kept believing. We kept doing that until the end and we won.”

UNGLAUBLICH 😍😍😍 Wir holen uns die Goldene ❤ #redbullspecteyewear #puma #sportbionier #gold #fivb #fivbbeachvolleyball #teamsw #wossuiseinwennnixis #speechless

498 Likes, 13 Comments - Philipp Waller (@waller6) on Instagram: "UNGLAUBLICH 😍😍😍 Wir holen uns die Goldene ❤ #redbullspecteyewear #puma #sportbionier #gold #fivb..."

Chinese Likejiang Ha and Jiaxin Wu stepped in the podium in their home soil after they prevailed over the Brazilian provisory tandem of Alvaro Filho and Luciano Ferreira in two sets (21-13, 21-13) in the bronze medal match.

In the women’s tournament, Day and Flint, who were playing together for the fifth time, had their first international title together following a straight-set (21-16, 21-18) win over Germany’s Sarah Schneider and Cinja Tillmann.

“We came here to win and we are happy that we were able to pull it off before we head to Tokyo,” Day commented. “Betsi and I did a good job in managing this tournament because it was very hot. We played with aggressiveness and we even when we were tired we still connected with one another.”

🥇 GOLD in Haiyang 3 ⭐️ Emily won't say it - but she won MVP of the tournament!!!! Stud!!!! And a big thank you to @jacksonmetichecchia for keeping us engaged and focused on each match & our med providers keeping our body healthy @drnelsonsantos @b_itosan 👊🏼 #somuchfun #goodtrip #welaughedalot #tokyobound #ontothenext #goldmedal #champions

175 Likes, 11 Comments - Betsi Flint (@betsiflint) on Instagram: "🥇 GOLD in Haiyang 3 ⭐️ Emily won't say it - but she won MVP of the tournament!!!! Stud!!!! And a..."

The USA also claimed the bronze medal of the tournament as Caitlin Ledoux and Sarah Sponcil, who was playing her first World Tour event, came out on top in the all-American third place match as they posted a 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) victory over Gstaad Major’s quarterfinalists Emily Stockman and Kelley Larsen.

Kou and Liu take gold in Korea

In the one-star women-only tournament in Ulsan, Korea, Asian teams took control, taking home all three medals available. Chinese Taipei’s Nai-Han Kou and Pi Hsin Liu won their third World Tour medal, and their first gold, with a 21-12, 21-19 triumph over Japan’s Kaho Sakaguchi and Yukako Suzuki.

Two Japanese tandems played for the bronze medal and Sakurako Fujii and Shinako Tanaka had the upper hand over compatriots Miyuki Matsumura Samaa Miyagawa with a three-set (15-21, 21-19, 15-12) victory.

The World Tour will be in three different continents next week as Tokyo, in Japan, will host a three-star event, Agadir, in Morocco, will stage a two-star competition, and Samsun, in Turkey, will receive a one-star tournament.