In-form Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert captured the men’s title following their exceptional win against Christopher McHuge/Paul Burnett in the all-Australians final showdown, as Xia Xinyi/Xue Chen celebrated the women’s crown at home in the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships at Beach Sport Base of Pingtan in Fuzhou, China on Monday.
After four days of exciting moments, spectacular plays and returning and incoming stars, the curtains came down on the topflight championships on Monday, with Australia and hosts China stamping their authority over the respective men’s and women’s events.
Just 11 days after winning their first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gold medals, prevailing in the Jurmala Challenge in Latvia, Australians Hodges and Schubert secured another major title, triumphing in the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships in Fuzhou.
Since the inaugural championships in 2000 in Chinese city of Yangjiang, Australia had already captured 5 gold medals in the Asian meet. In 2012, McHugh teamed up with Isaac Kapa to hand Australia the first Asian title in Haikou, China. They repeated the feat in 2014 and 2016 to make it three in a row.
In 2020 in Udon Thani, Thailand, McHugh partnered Damien Schumann to claim the Asian title and the following year in Thailand’s tourist resorts town Phuket saw McHugh take his straight fifth gold after teaming up with Paul Burnett to capture the title.
Hodges, 28, and Schubert, 27, came out on top of the all-Australian gold medal match on Monday, overcoming compatriots and Commonwealth Games gold medallists McHugh and Burnett in straight sets 21-17, 21-18.
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It was the first Asian title for the duo that currently places tenth in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking. Hodges and Schubert had another massive win in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Sunday when they knocked out defending champions and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan from Qatar in thrilling two setter 27-25, 21-19.
Earlier, Thailand’s Pitak Tipjan and Poravid Taovato, gold medallists at the Subic Bay Futures in the Philippines last December and silver medallists at the last April’s AVC Beach Tour Samila Open on home soil, had to be content with bronze medal after powering past Iranians Salemi Bahman and Shokati Sina in straight sets 21-17, 21-13 in the third-place playoff clash.
Meanwhile, China returned to the top of the podium for the first time since 2020 when Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi achieved it in Udon Thai, Thailand. This time, Xia Xinyi and Xue Chen handed China the 11th gold in the women’s event.
It was the sixth continental title for the 34-year-old Xue and the third for Xia, 26. The superb duo also won together in the 2016 edition in Sydney, Australia.
In the Monday’s final clash, the Chinese Olympians outplayed Thailand’s 2021 Asian champions Taravadee Naraphornrapat and Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee in two sets 21-17, 21-18 to secure the women’s title.
Hosts China also had a second team in the women’s podium, with Wang Jingzhe and Mushajing Aheidan topping Japan’s Miki Ishii and Sayaka Mizoe, who clinched silver medal in the 2021 edition in Phuket, Thailand, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in the bronze medal match on Monday.
MEN
MATCH RESULTS
FINAL RANKING
WOMEN
MATCH RESULTS
FINAL RANKING
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