Heather Bansley, Sarah Pavan claim silver in beach volleyball
Canadian pair earn second medal on World Tour series
Canada's Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan have captured their second silver medal on the beach volleyball World Tour series.
The 17th-seeded Bansley, from Waterdown, Ont., and Pavan, from Kitchener, Ont., were defeated by top seeds Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes of Brazil in Saturday's gold-medal game of the US$800,000 Porec Major.
The Canadians picked up their first silver medal earlier in the season in the Czech Republic where they lost the final to another Brazilian pair.
With their sixth gold medal in eight international starts together, Talita and Larissa shared the $57,000 first-place prize along with garnering 800 points to improve their FIVB World Tour rank fourth after playing in only two of the five women's events this season.
Bansley and Pavan, who switched to beach volleyball after starring for Canada's indoor team, split $43,000 for second-place along with gathering 720 points.
Talita and Larissa advanced to the finals with a win over 18th-seeded Jamie Broder of Victoria and Kristina Valjas of Toronto.
Bansley and Pavan scored a 2-1 (21-13, 15-21, 15-13) semi-final win over 22nd-seeded Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy of Australia to advance.
In the bronze-medal match, Bawden and Clancy scored a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win in 35 minutes over Broder and Valjas.