Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Chagas, native Brazilian beach volleyball players representing Georgia, rallied to a three-set victory over Russia on Tuesday. Their advance to the medal round sent a proud message to their adopted and crisis-torn homeland.

Andrezza Chagas (R) and Cristine Santanna of Georgia celebrate their victory after their women's preliminary round beach volleyball match against Russia in Beijing. [Agencies]

The members of Georgia's men's beach volleyball team, Renato Gomes and Jorge Terceiro, are also from Brazil.

Santanna, 29, and Chagas, 30, were born in Brazil and still live there. Georgia offered them citizenship two years ago, hoping to promote beach volleyball among children.

However, their Russian opponents, Natalia Uryadova and Alexandra Shiryaeva refused to acknowledge having lost to Georgia in a testy post-match press conference, questioning the citizenship claims of their Brazilian-born opponents.

"We were not actually playing against the Georgian team. We were playing against our Brazilian friends here," Uryadova said.

Santanna and Chagas did not take kindly to the remarks from their Russian opponents. Although they have only visited Georgia twice, they said they understood what their victory meant.

Two days before the beach volleyball match with Russia, the Georgian team had met to discuss leaving Beijing.

"My first thought was, 'Let's go,' because they have family back there," Santanna said of her Georgian teammates. "My first thought was supporting them. It's special because I feel more Georgian now."

They stayed after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili asked them to. Santanna said she not only knew who Saakashvili was, but that he had signed her and Chagas' passports. And Saakashvili's wife, Sandra, who is Dutch, was once a volleyball player.

"I feel like I'm a Georgian," said Santanna. "I have a Georgian passport and a Brazilian passport. We fought the past two years to be here. It was a very hard time. We had a lot of pressure to be here. I'm very proud today, not only because it was against Russia, because we play well out there. We won this match and we are still in the competition."

Ever since they became citizens of Georgia, Santanna and Martins took on the nicknames Saka and Rtvelo - "Georgia," in Georgian - out of affection for the land that allowed them to qualify for the Olympics.

Agencies