Credit: volleyball.org.au
Australia has finished on top of the ladder in the men’s and women’s finals of the Beach Pro Tour in Geelong on Sunday.
In the men’s, Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medalist Paul Bunnett (SA) took home his first Beach Pro Tour gold medal, with new teammate Jack Pearse (SA). They defeated New Zealand’s Thomas Reid & John McManaway in straight sets 2:0 (21-14, 21-13).
It caps off a busy year for Burnett, who has been on the world circuit as he looks to qualify for his first Olympic Games in Paris.
“It is my first gold medal on the world tour at any level. It’s never easy to win that last match of the tournament and get the gold… so really happy and a great way to finish the year.
“It’s been non-stop since February this year, we’ve been overseas for more than half the year, with plenty of ups and downs on that journey.
“As soon as next year comes round it’s go, go, go… we want to get two men’s teams into the Paris Olympic Games and that is what everyone is working towards as a squad and hopefully we can achieve that,” he said.
For Pearse it was an incredible opportunity to play an international Pro Tour event on home soil with Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Burnett.
“I was unbelievably nervous this morning… just glad we came in and played a cracking semi final and an absolute belter of a [gold medal] final. Super excited we got it done and it was an unbelievable experience.
“I was fortunate to be able to play them [New Zealand] in September. We did loose to them, they are an unbelievable team… but we did our research last night and this morning and we came up with a really strong plan and were able to execute that plan exceptionally well,” he said.
The women’s gold medal match closed out the day, with Queensland’s Jasmine Fleming and Georgia Johnson defeating Canada’s Aly/Katie.
It was back to back win for the Queenslanders, who last weekend took out the opening round of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour.
For Johnson, the win was made even more special by the fact it was at home in Australia, with her parents in the crowd.
“This is our first gold medal on the World Beach Pro Tour so we couldn’t be happier with the way we’ve built up over the last two weeks.
“It’s definitely sweeter doing it on home soil, and doing it in front of the amazing home crowd. Everyone was getting behind us and it means a lot to us on court.
“We head to the Philippines…
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