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…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…