Canada going for gold in both the men’s and women’s events in Edmonton

EDMONTON, Canada, July 21, 2019 - Canada’s Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman and 2019 World Champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes will be going for gold today at the FIVB US$150,000 Edmonton Open at Northlands Park.

Humana-Paredes and Pavan advanced to the Edmonton gold medal match with wins on Saturday over 25th-seeded qualifiers Monika Brzostek/Aleksandra Gromadowska of Poland 2-0 (21-13, 21-9) in 27 minutes and 13th-seeded Akiko Hasegawa/Azusa Futami of Japan 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) in 38 minutes.

The women play Americans Emily Day and Betsi Flint today at 4 pm local.

Today’s match will be the second FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams as Humana-Paredes and Pavan defeated Day and Flint last October in Las Vegas where the Canadians placed second and the Americans fifth.

Saxton and O’Gorman advanced with a pair of wins starting with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) quarter-final win in 36 minutes over sixth-seeded Chase Budinger/Casey Patterson of the United States. To reach the finals, Saxton and O’Gorman posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) win in 34 minutes over 16th-seeded Alex Ranghieri/Marco Caminati of Italy.

They will play the Swiss pair of Nico Beeler and Marco Krattiger in today’s final at 3 pm local time.