Paraguay’s Sofia Martinez & Clara Torres win women’s gold in Cochabamba, Bolivia; qualifier for 2026 U18 World Championships
Duos from Empowerment-funded Paraguay, Chile and Argentina make podiums at South American U18s – FIVB
Three of the six medals at last week’s CSV U18 Beach Volleyball South American Championships went to duos representing FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported federations. Paraguay’s Sofia Martinez & Clara Torres(pictured in the main photo; source: CSV – Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol)topped the women’s podium, while Chile’s Francisco Valdivia & Gael Arias and Argentina’s Zac Osatinsky & Nahuel Cornejo claimed silver and bronze in the men’s competition, lining up behind Brazilian winners Gabriel Campos & Bruno Fellipe. Mariana Chacin & Valeria Moreno of Venezuela and Leticia Schwalb & Kiara Ernesto of Brazil brought home women’s silver and bronze, respectively. The event in Cochabamba, Bolivia served as a qualifier for the 2026 FIVB U18 Beach Volleyball World Championships, with the top five teams in each gender earning quota for their countries.
The national beach volleyball teams of Paraguay have so far been funded with a total of USD 336,000 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Currently, they are trained by Brazilian coach Adriano Garrido. Paraguay’s national federation’s beach volleyball program has been granted another USD 12,000 for national team coach development knowledge transfer programs and USD 11,000 in beach volleyball equipment.
Paraguay’s Sofia Martinez & Clara Torres reached the final in Cochabamba on a perfect run of four consecutive straight-set wins, crowned with a hard-fought 2-0 (23-21, 23-21) semifinal victory over Chile’s Josefa Dawson & Valentina Vasquez. In the gold medal showdown, however, Martinez & Clara not only had to come back from a set down, but also had to persevere through an epic tie-breaker before celebrating a 2-1 (14-21, 21-16, 20-18) turnaround win over Venezuela’s Mariana Chacin & Valeria Moreno.
Chacin & Valeria produced a 2-0 (21-10, 21-19) sweep of the other semifinal against Brazil’s Leticia Schwalb & Kiara Ernesto, who also made the podium after a 2-0 (21-17, 21-10) shutout of Dawson & Vasquez for the bronze. Angeles Frascaroli & Isabela Garcia finished in fifth place and also booked a spot at the U18 World Championship for Argentina.
Chile’s beach volleyball program has so far been granted USD 420,000 in coach support, in addition to USD 23,000 worth of beach volleyball equipment from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their men’s national beach volleyball teams have benefitted from the expertise of assistant coach Felipe Gomez Badilla. The Federacion del Voleibol Argentino’s beach volleyball department has been assisted with USD 42,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their men’s national duos, trained by instructor Giuliano Mezzagno.
Chile’s Francisco Valdivia & Gael Arias stormed the men’s tournament in Cochabamba on a streak of four wins in a row. The last one of them, a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) sweep of their semifinal against Venezuela’s Santiago Camejo & Diego Hernandez, secured them a spot on the podium and brought them to the gold medal final.
Argentina’s Zac Osatinsky & Nahuel Cornejo lost two of the six matches they played in Bolivia, both to eventual champions Gabriel Campos & Bruno Fellipe. The Argentineans bounced back from their 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) setback in the semifinals with a 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-12) victory over Camejo & Hernandez in the third-place game to snatch the bronze.
Gabriel & Bruno Fellipe rounded off their undefeated run through the tournament with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) victory over Farias & Gael in the final.
Colombia’s Martin Gaviria & Mateo Rodriguez picked up the fifth qualification ticket to the U18 World Championship in the Netherlands.
16 women’s and 16 men’s duos representing nine different countries took part in the tournament.
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