Australian teams through to Rio qualifier semis

The Australian men’s and women’s teams are through to the semi-finals of the Continental Olympic beach volleyball finals at Cairns, although the men’s teams had to survive a scare.

VOLLEYBALL - BEACH: The Australian men’s and women’s teams are through to the semi-finals of the Continental Olympic beach volleyball finals at Cairns, although the men’s teams had to survive a scare.

Top seeds Chris McHugh and Isaac Kapa were pushed to three sets by Indonesia’s top side of Candra and Fahri, and Australia’s number two team of Josh Court and Damien Schumann were also pushed to three sets by Indonesia’s Danang and Gilang.

Australia will now take on China in Saturday’s semi-finals

There were no such problems for the Australian women’s teams, with Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Nicole Laird, and then Becchara Palmer and Phoebe Bell, both enjoying straight set wins over Chinese Taipei.

They will take on Japan in the semi-finals.

Also through to Saturday’s semi-finals are Qatar and Kazakhstan in the men’s, and China and Vanuatu in the womens.

One men’s team and one women’s team will qualify for the Rio Olympics at the end of this weekend’s competition.

Ross Solly
Volleyball Australia