Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, June 27, 2021 – The AVC Continental Cup winners have been confirmed, with Australia and China completing their Finals campaigns on high note to secure berths for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Australia pulled off a convincing 2-0 win against Indonesia to stamp their authority in the men’s event, while China reigned supreme in the women’s competition following an impressive 2-1 victory against Japan.
After the impossible mission in the 2016 AVC Continental Cup Finals in Cairns, where hosts Australia failed to make their mark and went down to China in the semi-finals, Australia came much stronger this time in the 2021 edition at the competition venue in front of the Mida Grande Hotel Dhavaravati Nakhon Pathom.
Fresh from winning the recent Semifinals, Australia got their Finals campaign off to a brilliant start with a scintillating 2-0 win against Oman in the quarterfinals before powering past Iran 2-0 in the semifinals.
Against Indonesia in the Sunday’s final clash, Maximilian Guehrer/Zachery Schubert, bronze medallists at the 2020 Asian Championship in Udon Thani, Thailand, proved too strong for Gilang Ramadan/Danangsyah Pribadi, bronze medallists at the 2018 Asian Games on their home land, to shut out the rivals 2-0 in 33 minutes and give Australia a 1-0 advantage.
The second match was also not that tough for highly-experienced Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann, who captured gold medal in major competitions including the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, the 2020 Asian Championship and the 2020 FIVB World Tour 2-Star event in Phnom Penh.
The superb duo spent 35 minutes in brushing off Indonesians Mohammad Ashfiya/Ade Candra Rachmawan, winners at the 2019 Penghu Open in Chinese Taipei and silver medallists at the 2018 Asian Games, 2-0 to hand Australia the eventual 2-0 win and the Tokyo 2020 ticket.
Following the significant success, Australian players hugged together while celebrating their victory with Tokyo 2020 Olympics Takasaki Daruma Doll, traditional good luck symbol with Summer Olympic Games logo, and having photo opportunity with friends and supporters.
Schubert thanked everyone who supported him and his team, “Five years is a long Olympic cycle and I thank everyone who played the part of the journey.”
Schumann also thanked teammates, friends and families who supported his team and helped them along the way, citing that he was very proud of them.
Meanwhile, in the women’s event, veterans China’s Xue Chen and Wang Xinxin proved their worth. As teammate Wen Shuhui sustained an injury since the quarterfinals and could not continue, Xue, who partnered Zhang Xi to win back-to-back Asian Games gold medal in 2006 and 2010, and Wang came for help as they had to contest both first match and Golden Match in all three days en route to the eventual victory.
However, determined Xue and Wang, who finished 9th place in four 2019 World Tour 4-Star events comprising Moscow (Russia), Espinho (Portugal), Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Xiamen (China), played with confidence no matter whom they would play as they had years of experience behind them.
In the quarterfinals, Xue and Wang saw off Kazakhs Tatyana Mashkova/Irina Tsimbalova 2-0 in the Golden Match and went on to beat Australians Nicole Laird/Becchara Palmer 2-1 in the semifinals Golden Match.
In the Sunday’s final, the Chinese pairing brushed off Japanese Akiko Hasegawa/Azusa Futami 2-0 in the first match and repeated the similar feat against another Japanese pairing, Chiyo Suzuki/Yurika Sakaguchi, in the Golden Match for the China’s eventual 2-0 win and the ticket for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
After the match, Xue and Wang were in jubilant, hugging together and, joined by injured Wen Shuhui and Wang Jingzhe, celebrated their victory with Daruma Doll and friends.
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