JINJIANG, China, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese pair Gao Peng/Li Yang took the bronze medal with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) win over Max Betzien/Jonathan Erdmann from Germany at men's finals of FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Jinjiang tournament on Sunday.
Gao/Li started strong as they aggressively served against their rivals. With pressure on the Germans side, the Chinese defended well at the net and set up strong counter-attacks. Erdmann made some great plays but the Chinese reacted right away and seized the opening set 21-16.
Gao kept the pressure at the net over the Germans in the second set, putting his team up ahead 10-4 with a series of blocks. The Chinese duo kept their momentum even when Erdmann scored some points to cut the lead. Finally, Gao sealed the bronze medal win at 21-11 with a block.
American pair Trevor Crabb/John Mayer made a thrilling 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 17-15) win over Germany's Ehlers/Schumann in the gold medal match.
After Crabb/Mayer enjoyed the first set win, Ehlers/Schumann responded with a more balanced game in the second set. Both sides had an intense exchange of strong hits that led to a tight game, but the momentum shifted to the Germans who forced the tiebreaker at 18-21.
In the final set, Americans built a 7-4 lead at the beginning. But the Germans fought back and cut down the lead to an 8-8 tie. Crabb/Mayer reached match point at 14-12 from a net touch by Schumann. An Ehlers' block brought the game to deadlock at 14-all and Mayer nailed back-to-back hits to seize the gold medal 17-15.
Crabb and Mayer have won two of their three World Tour tournaments in their first season together.
