Guaruja, BrazilL, September 20, 2008 - Larissa Franca of Brazil captured her 22nd international women’s Beach Volleyball gold medal here Saturday morning by winning the US$350,000 KIA Open presented by Banco do Brasil with Vivian Cunha.

Seeded 14th in the competition, Larissa and Vivian rebounded from a Thursday afternoon setback to win their next three KIA Open matches to share the $28,000 first-place prize after scoring a 21-13 and 29-27 gold medal win in 49 minutes over 12th-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk and Shaylyn Bede.

The All-Brazilian finale highlighted a successful week for the women from the South American country as top-seeded Shelda Bede and Ana Paula Connelly won the bronze medal match by defeating the second-seeded Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara) 21-17 and 21-18) in 37 minutes.

With all four teams from Brazil competing in Friday afternoon’s semi-finals, the host country for the KIA Open was guaranteed a sweep of the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour podium for the 17th-time since the start of the women’s international tour in August 1992. Brazil also occupied all four semi-final spots for the third-time in women’s tour history.

Two days (August 7) before the start of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Juliana withdrew and had knee surgery several days later in Rio de Janeiro. Ana Paula replaced Juliana as Larissa’s partner for the Summer Games as the Brazilians placed fifth after being eliminated by Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

For placing second on the Praia da Enseada, Agatha and Shaylyn split $19,500 in their first SWATCH “final four” appearance in 27 FIVB events together. Shelda and Ana Paula, who clinched the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour point’s title with the bronze medal win, shared $14,000 for third-place while the Salgados collected $10,500.

The KIA Open men’s semi-finals contests were played after the women’s finale with two teams each from Brazil and Germany advancing to the “final four”. The men’s podium placement matches will be played Sunday morning.