Germans knock out Brazil at semi-final stage of home tournament

Check out your list of favourites. To remove, just click on the star

Germans knock out Brazil at semi-final stage of home tournament – in beach volleyball

By Rio 2016 with AP 16/08/2016 16H53

Brazilian hopes for gold in women's beach volleyball now lie with Agatha and Barbara, who play the USA's pairing of Walsh-Jennings and Ross at midnight

Germans knock out Brazil at semi-final stage of home tournament – in beach volleyball — Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst swept aside the challenge of Larissa França and Talita Rocha in the semi-final (Photo: Getty Images/Jamie Squire)

Germany beat Brazil's top-seeded women's team at the spectacular Copacabana beach volleyball venue in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday (16 August), topping the hometown and tournament favourites 21-18, 21-12 and clinching a spot in the gold medal match on Wednesday night.

Rio-time updates: follow the action with our daily liveblog

Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst dispatched the pairing of Larissa França and Talita Rocha with surprising ease, overcoming a hostile crowd and windy conditions.

The match lasted just 38 minutes, with Larissa and Talita seemingly intimidated by the occasion and failing to perform to their best.

For the fourth-seeded Germans, it was their sixth straight win of the competition. With Tuesday's victory, they become the first team of European women to guarantee themselves an Olympic beach volleyball medal.

"I can't believe it. It's still unreal," Ludwig said. "I really think I need some time to realise what we did here, especially after the last four years. We had tough times and now we are in freaking finals of the Olympics."

On Wednesday night, the Germans will face either three-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings and her new partner April Ross, who are seeded three, or the Brazilian pairing of Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas de Freitas, seeded two.