LONDON, Aug 10: Germans Jonas Reckermann and Julius Brink won a thrilling final against Brazilian top seeds Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti on Thursday to become Europe’s first ever Olympic beach volleyball champions.

Emanuel was bidding to reclaim the title he won alongside Ricardo Santos in Athens in 2004, but despite a second-set rally, the Brazilians fell 23-21, 16-21, 16-14 in an evenly balanced encounter.

“I cannot believe that we’ve really won the Olympic Games,” said Reckermann.

“It’s unbelievable, amazing. I think it will take some days, or maybe weeks, or maybe months, to understand what happened here over the past two weeks.”

Bronze medallists at last year’s world championships in Rome, when Emanuel and Alison won gold, the German twosome succeed Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers as Olympic champions.—AFP