Israel's footvolley pair of Ron Ben Yishai and Lee Liberman claimed bronze at the Footvolley World Championship in Antibes, on France's Riviera coast, beating a German duo 18-7 in the third-place match, Sport5 reported.
The Israelis had reached the medal round on the back of a strong run through the knockout stage, before running into a Brazilian pair in the semifinal who proved too strong and went on to win the gold medal in the final, according to the report.
Rather than dwell on the near-miss, Ben Yishai and Liberman regrouped for the bronze-medal match and were comfortable winners over Germany, closing out the tournament with a podium finish for Israel in a sport still building its profile at home.
The Mondial de Footvolley is an annual fixture on the French Riviera, traditionally staged in the Antibes and Juan-les-Pins area and drawing national teams from across Europe and South America to a sport that blends beach volleyball's court and net with football's no-hands rule.
Ben Yishai is a familiar face on Israel's small but growing footvolley scene, where he also competes domestically in Tel Aviv's Ya'ez footvolley league, at times partnering Maor Ha'as. Liberman is likewise a regular fixture of that same local circuit.
For a niche sport with only a handful of organised players in Israel, a world championship medal is a notable marker of progress — proof, as Sport5's headline put it, that Israel is becoming something of a "powerhouse" in footvolley's competitive corners.
