Australia’s Olympic beach volleyball hopefuls Chris McHugh and Josh Slack and Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden have progressed to the round of 16 in their respective men’s and women’s competitions after the opening day’s play at the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Haikou, China.
 
Both pairs remained unbeaten after day one, winning their opening two games as teams battled with the cold, windy conditions at the beachside venue on northern coast of Hainan Province.
 
They have earned a day off today with Australia’s two other combinations, also with their eyes on Olympic qualification,  Natalie Cook and Tamsin Hinchley and Sam Boehm and Isaac Kapa preparing for Haikou’s expected sub 18 degree temperatures.
 
Palmer and Bawden continued on from their good recent form which saw them finish fourth in the final FIVB World Tour event in Phuket last month, with convincing wins over 2018 Commonwealth Games bid opponent Sri Lanka (21-10; 21-9) and Thailand (21-14, 21-16).
 
McHugh and Slack crushed any thoughts of a Thailand upset in their second match with Slack leading from the front with fast aggressive serving and blocking, solidly backed up with accurate setting by McHugh, before winning comfortably 21:16 and 21:10.
 
The pair had earlier worked hard to dispose of a determined Hong Kong combination in a tight encounter 21:15, 21:15.
 
Meanwhile four-time Olympian Cook and her Beijing 2008 partner Hinchley will face a tough second game today against a talented Chinese combination that finished ninth in Phuket.
 
A solid win from Cook and Hinchley will also see them finish top of their pool and the prospects of another Australia v China match.
 
In the men’s competition the combination of Boehm and Kapa will play two matches today (Friday), including a return bout with leading Japanese pairing, the 2004 and 2008 Olympians Asahi and Shiratori who eliminated them from the same event last year.
 
They then face the fast rising Chinese Taipei team that pushed the leading Chinese pairing to three sets in a lead up tournament last week.
 
But two wins from Boehm and Kapa will sure up the top of their pool.
 
The boys scored a convincing win over Singapore yesterday, ending with a 21:3 result in the second set and highlighted by strong physical play with powerful serving and blocking from Kapa with Boehm playing a great defensive role.
 
They kept the ball off the sand, terminating plays with forceful hitting, running out two sets to love winners,  21:13, 21:3.
 
Following the Asian Championships the Australian combinations will return home next week for the next round of the Renault National Beach Volleyball Series at Adelaide’s Glenelg Beach from December 16 to 18.

Volleyball Australia