Qatar’s Jefferson Santos Pereira and Cherif Younousse bowed out of the AVC Asian Beach Volleyball Championship at Manly Beach in Sydney as hosts dominated the quarter-finals, picking three of the semi-final berths on Sunday.
As if that was not enough, the Australians later guaranteed themselves of the gold medal with top seeds and two-time Asian champions Isaac Kapa and Chris McHugh qualified for the final against compatriots Bo Soderberg and Cole Durant.
Soderberg and Durant defeated the Qatari pair 21-14 21-16. This was followed by Kapa and McHugh overcoming New Zealand’s Ben O’Dea and Jason Lochead in three sets by 21-18 17-21 15-12. O’Dea and Lochead shut out Japan’s Katsuhiro Shiratori and Yoshiumi Hasegawa in one-way affair.
In the other all-Australian semi-final, Soderberg and Durant upstaged star beat Joshua Court & Damien Schumann (AUS) 2-0 (21-19, 21-16).
Qatar’s second pair Julio Nascimento and Ahmed Tijan forced Australians Court and Schumann to fight back and win the pre-quarters in three sets.
The final match will take place on Monday, while Court and Schumann will try to complete an Australian sweep of the podium if they can defeat O’Dea and Lochead in the bronze medal match.
Two of the pre-event favourites in the women’s draw were eliminated on a dramatic night of quarter-finals.
Japan’s Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami defeated Vanuatu’s Pata Miller and Lineline Matauatu in three sets, while Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee trounced Japan’s No. 1 team, Takemi Nishibori and Sayaka Mizoe in a three-set encounter.
Hometown hopefuls Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Nikki Laird, and China’s Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi were through to the semi-finals.
Results
Gold Medal:
Isaac Kapa & Chris McHugh (AUS) beat Bo Soderberg & Cole Durant (AUS) 2-1 (21-10, 19-21, 15-9)
Bronze Medal:
Ben O’Dea & Jason Lochead (NZL) loses Joshua Court & Damien Schumann (AUS) 1-2 (19-21, 21-19, 11-15)
Semi-finals:
Isaac Kapa & Chris McHugh (AUS) beat Ben O’Dea & Jason Lochead (NZL) 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-12)
Bo Soderberg & Cole Durant (AUS) beat Joshua Court & Damien Schumann (AUS) 2-0 (21-19, 21-16)
Quarter-finals:
Bo Soderberg & Cole Durant (AUS) beat Jefferson Santos Pereira & Cherif Younousse (QAT) 2-0 (21-14, 21-16)
Isaac Kapa & Chris McHugh (AUS) beat Jian Bao & Likejiang Ha (CHN) 2-1 (25-23, 16-21, 15-7)
Mike Watson & Sam O\’Dea (NZL) lost to Joshua Court & Damien Schumann (AUS) 0-2 (22-24, 24-26)
Katsuhiro Shiratori & Yoshiumi Hasegawa (JPN) lost to Ben O’Dea & Jason Lochead (NZL) 0-2 (17-21, 13-21)