Canadian standouts dig their historic gold medal
Pavan, Humana-Paredes victorious in beach volleyball’s Commonwealth debut
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes made history Thursday, dispatching an Australian pair to become the first women to win beach volleyball gold at the Commonwealth Games.
Ranked No. 1 in the world by the FIVB, the Canadians had to battle wind and rain as well as resilient opponents in Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar to triumph 21-19, 22-20.
The Canadians fought off a set point at 20-19 in the final set and put the Aussies away with a gut-busting final point that saw 17 touches of the ball and some miraculous saves on either side of the net. When it was done, the five-foot-nine Humana-Paredes jumped into the arms of the sixfoot-five Pavan to celebrate putting their names in the record book.
“It feels amazing,” said Pavan, 31, from Kitchener, Ont. “To be the first gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games for beach volleyball is such an honour. And we’ve made history. Hopefully this will continue to be an event in the Commonwealth Games, but there’s nothing like the first.”
Canadians Sam Schachter and Sam Pedlow settled for silver, losing the men’s final 21-19, 18-21, 1816 to Australians Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann in a nailbiter that lasted 61 minutes.
Both Canadian teams had to deal with a polite, but partisan crowd at the Coolangatta Beachfront venue.
The beach volleyball competition has been a huge hit here with every session a sellout. The venue was rocking Thursday with 4,000 spectators filling the temporary stands.
UCHIDA NABS SILVER
Diamanto Evripidou of Cyprus won the individual all-around title in rhythmic gymnastics. Katherine Uchida of Canada took silver and Kwan Dict Weng of Malaysia the bronze.
SMITH FINISHES THIRD
Annie Last won gold in women’s mountain biking, finishing 48 seconds ahead of England teammate Evie Richards on the Nerang State Forest course. Last finished the 27.6-kilometre course in one hour, 18.02 seconds with Richards taking silver in 1:18.50. Victoria’s Haley Smith won bronze in 1:20.26 ahead of fellow Canadian Emily Batty. The Canadian Press, with files from The Associated Press