Australia and China retained respective men’s and women’s titles in 2024 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships
Santa Rosa, Philippines, November 10, 2024 – Australia and China captured back-to-back titles at the 2024 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships, which came to a fruitful conclusion at Nuvali Sand Courts in the City of Santa Rosa on Sunday, with D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse landing the men’s title and Wang Jingzhe/Xia Xinyi crowned the women’s champions.
In the men’s showdown, third seeds Potts/Pearse pulled off upset 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win against compatriots and top seeds Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher, who claimed the 2024 Mollymook Futures title and 2023 AVC Beach Tour Penghu Open in Chinese Taipei to their name.
Potts/Pearse, both on their Asian Championships debut and had only played two Asian Tour events together in the same team including this year’s AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open in Chinese Taipei, where they picked up silver medal, did not lose a match en route to winning the men’s title, the Volleyroos’ 7th since the championship inception in 2000 in Yangjiang, China.
Australia had already captured the men’s title in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
In the third-place playoff earlier, Iran’s 12th seeds Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab, who had already claimed two AVC Beach Tour events this year comprising the Nuvali Open in Philippines and the Tianjin Open in China plus silver medal at the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Thailand in April, demolished China’s fifth seeds Wu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang 2-0 (21-15, 21-17).
Wu, 29 and Ha, 30, had won many international tournaments including three consecutive gold medals on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour in 2023 (Sohar, Mount Maunganui and Coolangatta Futures) as well as silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022. But this time, the Chinese duo fell short and could not make the podium.
Meanwhile, the women’s all-Chinese final affair saw top-rated Wang Jingzhe/Xia Xinyi power past fourth seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) for the crown.
Wang/Xia were unbeaten en route to winning their title, dropping only one set (2-1) to compatriots Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli in the quarterfinals.
China had claimed 12 women’s titles in the Asian Championships and among them were four from Xia Xinyi. Xia took her first Asian Championships title in 2016 with her partner Xue Chen. She claimed her second title in 2020 with new partner Wang Fan before switching to partner Xue Chen and Wang Jingzhe to bag her third and fourth Asian Championships titles in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
In 2023, Xia Xinyi also teamed up with Xue Chen to capture gold medal at the rescheduled Hangzhou Asian Games, her third Asiad gold in a row (2014, 2018, 2022).
At the 2024 edition of the Asian Championships at Nuvali Sand Courts here, the Chinese duo switched their partners, with Xia Xinyi partnering Wang Jingzhe, the 27-year-old who managed to win gold at five of her six FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 2019 with her previous partner Wen Shuhui, and Xue Chen, 35, bronze medallist at 2008 Beijing Olympics and world champion in 2013, teaming up with the 22-year-old Zeng Jinjin, gold medallist at the 2023 Leuven Futures in Belgium.
In the bronze-medal match, Australia’s second seeds Jana Milutinovic/Stefanie Fejes, champions at the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in the City of Santa Rosa here, posted a 21-15, 21-19 drubbing of 7th seeds Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama, the Japanese duo Milutinovic/Fejes had defeated twice before including an exceptional 2-0 win in the bronze-medal match at the Samila Open.
With Milutinovic/Fejes claiming bronze medal in the women’s event, Australia swept a complete collection of medals in the 2024 Asian Championships including gold medal from Potts/Pearse and silver medal from Nicolaidis/Carracher.
The awards presentation and closing ceremony at Nuvali Sand Courts on Sunday afternoon was presided by Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) Secretary General Mr Donaldo Caringal.
In the men’s event, Australians D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse were crowned champions to receive the trophy plus gold medals, US$7,500 cash prize and 800 AVC accumulated points.
Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher, also from Australia, finished second to receive the trophy, silver medals, US$5,500 prize money and 760 points.
Coming in third position were Iranians Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab, presented with the trophy, bronze medals, US$3,500 cash prize and 720 points.
The women’s podium saw Chinese Wang Jingzhe/Xia Xinyi reign supreme to take the trophy, gold medals, US$7,500 cash prize and 800 AVC accumulated points.
The second place went to Chinese Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin to receive the trophy, silver medals, US$5,500 prize money plus 760 points.
Australians Jana Milutinovic/Stefanie Fejes came in third place to take home the trophy, bronze medals, US$3,500 cash prize and 720 points.
MATCH RESULTS
MEN
WOMEN
FINAL RANKINGS
MEN
WOMEN
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