Ricardo Santos (L) of Brazil spikes the ball over Renato Gomes of Georgia during their beach volleyball bronze medal match at the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 22, 2008. Ricardo Santos/Emanuel Rego of Brazil won the match and grabbed the bronze medal of the event. (Xinhua/Sadat) Photo Gallery>>>

Emanuel Rego of Brazil celebrates after the beach volleyball bronze medal match at the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 22, 2008. Ricardo Santos/Emanuel Rego of Brazil defeated Renato Gomes/Jorge Terceiro of Georgia and grabbed the bronze medal of the event. (Xinhua/Gaesang Dawa) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos won bronze medals in the beach volleyball tournament at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.

    The Brazilian duo controlled the rhythm of the bronze medal match in most of time, breezing past the Gerogian duo, Renato Gomes and Jorge Terceiro, 21-15 and 21-10.

    "I didn't get the gold, but this is the key of sport. Chance belongs to good teams," Emanuel said after the match.

    "I'm happy with the bronze medal. Bronze medal means a lot for us. We Brazilians don't have so many medals at the Olympics," he added.

    The Brazilian duo was gold medalists at the Athens Games. In the semifinals at the Beijing Olympics, they were beaten by their fellow Brazilians Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes.

    "I wish them (Araujo and Magalhaes) to win the gold medal," said Emanuel.

    Gomes said after the match they hadn't anticipated to win the bronze medal.

    "We know each other very well, and we knew the match would be very difficult," said Gomes, who, along with her partner, is of Brazilian origin.

    The scoreboard told the distance between them and the Athens Games champions, he added.

    The Georgian pair unexpectedly downed higher-ranked Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

    This was the first time for Georgia to earn a berth in semifinal in beach volleyball tournament at an Olympics.

Ricardo Santos (R) and Emanuel Rego of Brazil reach for the ball during the beach volleyball bronze medal match at the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 22, 2008. Ricardo Santos/Emanuel Rego of Brazil defeated Renato Gomes/Jorge Terceiro of Georgia and grabbed the bronze medal of the event. (Xinhua/Gaesang Dawa) Photo Gallery>>>