BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy have bowed out in the round of 16 of the Yokohama Grand Slam event after going down in their first elimination match.
The pair went down to German 11th seeds Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst having come through the pool stage undefeated.
The Aussies lost a tight first set 20-22 before bouncing back to claim the second set 21-18.
They dropped the first three points of the third set, got back into the match before eventually going down 15-17.
The event event on the World Tour is the Long Beach Grand Slam beginning on August 18.
Pool stage:
Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy have progressed through the pool stage of the Yokohama Grand Slam event after winning their opening three matches of the tournament.
The ninth seeded Aussies began their campaign with a 21-13 21-18 straight sets victory over Vanuatu’s Miller Pata and Linlin Matauatu.
Tanja Goricanec & Tanja Hüberli of Switzerland were next up and Australia’s top pairing disposed of the 25th seeds in equally swift fashion 21-13 21-19.
Needing a win to secure a bye in the first round of the elimination matches, Bawden and Clancy defeated 8th seeded Sayaka Mizoe and Nishibori Take of Japan. The Aussies won the clash 21-14 21-19 to head into the knock out stages having not dropped a set.
Australia’s men’s participants Isaac Kapa and Chris McHugh were knocked out of the tournament in the first match of the elimination rounds.
The 17th seeds lost their first match before forfeiting their second clash against the top seeded Dutch duo due to injury.
They bounced back to make the knockout phase after defeating Japan’s Koichi Nishimura and Yuya Ageba 18-21, 32-30, 15-7.
Their tournament ended though when they were bounced out by the 25th seeded Venezuelans Jackson Henriquez and Jesus Villafane.
Kapan and McHugh won the first set, held match points in the second set but eventually went down 21-16 27-29 10-15.
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au
