Bangkok, Thailand, June 23, 2024 – Visitors stole the show in the AVC Continental Cup Finals at Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Center in Ningbo, Xiangshan, China on Sunday when Australia and Japan pulled out upset wins against hosts China in electrifying final showdowns in respective men’s and women’s events which were decided in Golden Matches.
In the men’s final showdown on Sunday, Mark Nicolaidis and the 1.99cm-tall Izac Carracher drew the first blood for Australia following their dramatic 2-1 (21-17, 20-22, 16-14) win against hosts China’s veterans Wu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang, who performed brilliantly in the 2023 season to win several titles including Beach Pro Tour Futures Wenzhou Cangnan, AVC Beach Tour Samila Open, Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta in Australia and Beach Pro Tour Futures Mt Maunganui Beach in New Zealand.
However, Wang Yanwei/Li Jie, who claimed gold at the 2023 Beach Pro Tour Futures Qidong to their name, saved the day for China as they narrowly edged past another Australian duo, Jack Pearse/Paul Burnett, who captured gold at 2023 Beach Pro Tour Futures Geelong on home soil aside from this year’s AVC Beach Tour 23rd Samila Open in Thailand, 22-20, 22-20 to help China level it at 1-1.
In the Golden Match to decide the eventual winners, Nicolaidis/Carracher, who in 2022 bursted onto the international scene at the Gold Coast Beach Pro Tour Futures event in April after winning gold in their first International event as a pair and finished a remarkable 9th place in the 2022 World Championships in Rome, clawed their way back to beat Wu/Ha 17-21, 23-21, 15-10 in exhausting 64 minutes.
The pulsating 2-1 win in the men’s showdown not only gave Australia a successful title defence in the AVC Continental Cup Finals, but also earned them a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, the women’s event saw reigning champions China lose their crown on home soil. Akiko Hasegawa/Miki Ishii put Japan in front 1-0 following their exceptional 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) win against Chinese Wang Jingzhe/Dong Jie.
However, Chinese Cao Shuting/Zhu Lingdi regained the lost pride to beat Japan’s Suzuka Hashimoto/Reika Murakami in one-sided battle 2-0 (21-16, 21-5) for a 1-1 tie.
China switched their pairing for the Golden Match, with Cao Shuting teaming up with Dong Jie, but things still turned sour for the host side.
Both Japan and China locked horns in the decisive match which saw Akiko and Miki take the comfortable first set…
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