Graudiņa / Kravčenoka loses in the semifinals of the Olympic Games and will fight for bronze

The Latvian duo, who were seeded with the 16th number in the games, lost 0-2 (21:23, 13:21) to the Australian pair Mariafe Artaho de Solara / Talika Klensija (5th).

In the second semi-final on Thursday, the US duo Epril Rosa / Aliksa Klainmen (2nd) defeated the Swiss pair Joan Heidrich / Anuka Verge-Depre (12th) with the result 2-0 (21:12, 21:11), who will be Graudiņa / Kravčenoka’s opponents on Friday. in a bronze duel.

At the beginning of the fight, the Latvian duo made mistakes in the attacks, due to which they reached the drivers with 1: 4, but then Graudiņa’s successful game at the net allowed to reach a draw 4: 4. Later, the opponents quickly regained the three-point lead (8: 5), but after a successful attack on their service, the duets were separated only by one point (7: 8).

In the middle of the set, the Australians maintained a 2-3 point lead, but then the opponents were already four points away (10:14), mainly due to Clensley’s attacks and good service. Kravčenoka’s attack and “aisle”, as well as Graudiņa’s play in the block allowed him to approach one point apart (16:17).

The opponents took a break, after which they made a mistake in the attack (17:17), but then Clensy hit the line and the Latvian mistake – 19:17 in favor of the Australians. Grain’s deceptive blow and Clensey’s error in defense once again made it possible to achieve the same result (19:19). At the end of the set, Graudiņa / Kravčenoka played two setballs, but the third, after a mistake in the service, gave the Australian pair a victory – 23:21.

At the beginning of the second set, Graudiņa won for Latvia 1: 0, but then the fight continued point by point until Kravčenoka’s “eiss” allowed to achieve a greater advantage (5: 3). Already three points separated the duets after Solora knocked the ball out of play (7: 4), but later, after Kravchenok’s mistake, he approached the opponent of the net to one point (8: 7).

The ball is knocked out and the result is already 10:10 in the middle of the set, but after the Clensy block and the Australians, the ball is awarded to the opponents of the net by a two-point advantage (13:11). After the break, Clensy was once again superior to the net and the duets were separated by three points (14:11). Later, several mistakes and successful attacks of the opponents followed, due to which the Latvian duo already had a difficult deficit to play (12:18). At the top of the set, the Latvian athletes broke down and gave up with 13:21.

Graudiņa / Kravčenoka defeated the Canadian duo Hetere Benzley / Brandy Wilkersone 2-1 (21:13, 18:21, 15:11) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, who were sown with the tenth number in the tournament.

Before that, the Latvian players in the group conceded 1-2 with the US duo Kelly Kleis and Sarah Sponsila (9th), but 2-1 beat the Brazilian Anna Patrisius Silva Ramos and Rebecca Kavalkanti Barboz Silva (4th) and 2-0 – the Kenyan duo Gaudensija Makoha / Breksaidsa Hadambi (21.).

In the eighth final, the pair of Svetlana Holomina / Nadezhda Makroguzova was beaten 2-1 (16:21, 21:17, 15:13) by the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR), who were sown with the eighth number in the tournament. The Australian women beat the main favorites of the tournament from Canada 2-1 (21:15, 19:21, 15:12) on Tuesday – Sarah Peven and Melissa Hume-Paredes.

Before that, the Australians, for whom this is already the second Olympic Games, beat the Cuban and Italian pairs in the group in two sets, but lost to Holomina and Makroguzova in three sets.

In the eighth final, they played the Chinese duo Xinxi Wang / Chen Sue (23rd) in two sets.

The Australians in Rio de Janeiro lost in all three group games, taking a split 19th place.

The Latvian duo celebrated their victory twice in the four mutual games so far, also this summer in the World Tour stage in Gstaad, but in two the best were Australians.

The Olympic champions will be determined on August 6.

In the afternoon, Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs will also compete for the place in the men’s tournament final.