Santa Rosa, Philippines, November 9, 2024 – Australia and China look set to share the honour at the 2024 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships as top seeds Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher and third seeds Thomas Potts/Jack Pearse will battle it out in an all-Australian men’s showdown, while China’s top seeds Wang Jingzhe/Xia Xinyi will face off against compatriots and fourth seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin in the women’s gold medal match on Sunday.
As Australia and China are assured of capturing respective men’s and women’s titles in this 2024 edition at Nuvali Sand Courts, it seems like history repeats itself as at the last year’s Fuzhou-hosted Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships in China, Australia claimed the men’s title, while the women’s crown went to China.
There, Australians Thomas Hodges/Zachery Schubert upset compatriots Chris McHugh/Paul Burnett 2-0 in the men’s showdown to reign supreme, while Chinese Xia Xinyi/Xue Chen powered past Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee 2-0 in the final clash to take the women’s title.
On Saturday, the penultimate day of the five-day, double-gender competition, Wang/Xia pulled off a comeback 2-1 (17-21, 21-8, 15-9) win against teammates Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli in the women’s quarterfinals.
The Chinese duo remained strong defensively and offensively in the semifinal clash against Japan’s Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama, who demolished Aussies Jasmine Fleming/Elizabeth Alchin 21-16, 21-18 in the quarterfinals.
Despite playing well and having a lot of respect for the gallant fight they put in, the Japanese tandem found Chinese Wang/Xia too strong to go down 17-21, 15-21 in 36 minutes. The Chinese duo booked their berth in the final.
With great experience their key benefits, Wang/Xia could prove to be strong title contenders to be reckoned with in Santa Rosa. As Xia competed at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics and took consecutive three-time Asian Games gold medals (2014, 2018, 2022), the 27-year-old Wang managed to win gold at five of her six appearances on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 2019 along with Wen Shuhui. Wang celebrated her first Beach Pro Tour gold as she and 23-year-old Mushajiang Aheidan topped the podium at the Qingdao 2024 tournament.
Teammates Xue/Zeng faced a tougher task en route to the Sunday’s showdown. The Chinese pair advanced following a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) rout of Australia’s 13th seeds Tara Phillips/Kayla Mears in the quarterfinals.
However, they struggled hard in the semifinal encounter against another Australian duo, second seeds Jana Milutinovic/Stefanie Fejes, who managed a 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) shutout of Kiwis Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald.
Xue/Zeng took the hard-fought first set 22-20, but the Aussies, consecutive two-time Coolangatta Futures winners and gold medallists at the 2024 Mollymook Futures, stormed back to clinch the second set 21-14. The tie-breaker was hotly-contested as both sides poured everything they had to win the set and match, but the Chinese duo fared better to claim the thrilling set 15-13 and a final berth.
As Chinese Xue, bronze medallist at 2008 Beijing Olympics and world champion in 2013, and the 22-year-old Zeng, gold medallist at the 2023 Leuven Futures in Belgium, will take on compatriots Wang/Xia in the women’s showdown, Australians Milutinovic/Fejes and Japan’s Shiba/Maruyama will fight it out in the third-place playoff to vie for bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Australia’s top seeds and current world No.19 Nicolaidis/Carracher, who claimed the 2024 Mollymook Futures title and 2023 AVC Beach Tour Penghu Open in Chinese Taipei to their name, powered their way to the men’s showdown.
Nicolaidis/Carracher beat Joshua Howat/Luke Ryan 21-11, 29-27 in an all-Australian quarterfinal match to go up against Iranians Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab, who came from behind to beat compatriots Salemiinjehboroun Bahman/Khakizadeh Abolhassan in hard-fought three-set thriller 20-22, 26-24, 15-13 in exhausting 76 minutes.
In the semifinals, Nicolaidis/Carracher survived a scare from Pourasgari/Aghajani to beat the Iranian duo in thrilling three-setter 21-13, 17-21, 15-13 in 52 minutes and are due to next battle it out with teammates Potts/Pearse in the Sunday’s do-or-die final.
Potts/Pearse struggled in the quarterfinals. Both on their Asian Championships debut and silver medallists at this year’s AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open in Chinese Taipei, Potts/Pearse bounced back from the first-set loss to beat Kazakhstan’s qualifiers Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu in intense three sets 17-21, 21-17, 15-12 in 57 minutes in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Potts/Pearse still faced a daunting task against Wu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang, who won many international tournaments including three consecutive gold medals on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour in 2023 (Sohar, Mount Maunganui and Coolangatta Futures), but the Australians eventually reached the final after closely-contested 2-0 (23-21, 24-22) victory against the China’s fifth seeds.
Wu/Ha also performed solidly in the quarterfinals earlier to stun second seeds and defending champions Thomas Hodges/Schubert from Australia 23-21, 21-18.
On Sunday, Nicolaidis/Carracher and Potts/Pearse will face off in the all-Australian final, while China’s Wu/Ha will fight it out with Iranians Pourasgari/Aghajani in the bronze-medal match.
MATCH RESULTS
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WOMEN
MATCH SCHEDULE
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WOMEN
FINAL RANKINGS
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WOMEN
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