Wakeboarding

Cory Teunissen won Australia’s first medal of the ANOC World Beach Games, winning silver in Wakeboarding.

The 22-year-old finished with a score of 84.22, just two points behind winner Massimililiano Piffaretti of Italy with 86.22 and clear of bronze medal winner Guenther Oka of USA in 82.67.

The two-time Wakeboarding World Champion was ecstatic to win a medal for his first multisport team.

“To win Australia’s first medal at the first ever Beach Games, I’m just stoked,” Teunissen said.

“To be part of this awesome event and included in the Olympic environment has been great for me and great for our sport. Winning this medal for our whole Team is a really humbling experience.

“I’m used to having other Aussie wakeboarders on tour, but it’s a completely different experience sharing with athletes from so many sports. 

“Hearing the Aussies cheering as I rode past them was great, to have that support from the Aussie athletes was brilliant. I’m looking forward to being able to get out and cheer the them on in comp now I’ve finished.

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Kitefoil Racing

The Australian pair of Breiana Whitehead and Natalie Flintrop-Clarke are through to tomorrow’s semi-finals after two days of racing in Katara Beach.

After seven races Whitehead finished the preliminary rounds in fourth spot, with Flintrop-Clarke in tenth.

The top two ranked racers have progressed straight to Wednesday’s final, to be joined only by the winner of each semi-final, setting up a day of intense semi-final racing.

19-year-old Whitehead, whose preliminary races included a second and three third place finishes, was looking forward to taking her strong form into the semis.

“I’m happy with those results, I tried to keep it as clean as I can with the lower wind we had today,” she said.

“The wind picked up for the last few races, it gives us a little bit more power and speed and helped us feel more comfortable on the water.

“Today a major thing was keeping the kite out of the water in some tricky conditions. Hopefully we get some more wind tomorrow and give some really good racing.”

Beach Volleyball 4x4

The women’s have made it to the final four with a dominant quarter-final victory over Czech Republic.

After a disappointing final pool match loss to Canada the team bounced back to win 21-14, 21-14, showcasing a potent attacking game.

Christie Jenkins credited an aggressive mindset for the dominant display.

“I’m pretty damn stoked, we definitely brought our A-game tonight,” she said. 

“After our loss last night we knew we needed to be more aggressive tonight. That really started with our serve reception and having a clear path dialled in so we could play our best attack each point.

The team will meet unbeaten Brazil in the semi-finals tomorrow.

The men’s team suffered a loss at the hands of Indonesia in their quarter-final matchup. 

After winning the first set 25-23, the Australians dropped the second 21-16 and 15-9 in the decider, bringing their World Beach Games campaign to an end.

Beach Handball

The men’s handballers came up against the red-hot Qatari team and a packed stadium of vocal supporters in their quarter-final matchup.

The undefeated Qatar proved too much for the Australians, taking the game 24-17, 21-14.

Defender Daniel Fogarty enjoyed the energy the crowd brought to the contest.

“It was an electric atmosphere in there tonight,” he said. “Even though it’s disappointing to go out in the quarters and miss out on playing for the medals, it’s a pretty special environment.

The team will face Croatia first up tomorrow in their 5-8 ranking matchup.

The women’s Handball team suffered from a slow start against the US, unable to come back from a 10-0 early deficit, going down 22-10, 20-15.

The women will face Tunisia tomorrow to finish their World Beach Games campaign.