Fierce finals foil racing, volleyballers to play for bronze and a well-earned win for Aussie handballers headlines the penultimate day of the ANOC World Beach Games.
Sailing
Breiana Whitehead made the final four and Natalie Flintrop jumped two spots to finish eighth on finals day in the ANOC World Beach Games Kitefoil Racing.
19-year-old Whitehead won her two-race semi-final to progress to the final after finishing the preliminaries in fourth spot, and finished just outside the medals in with a tight final race won by multiple World Champion Daniela Moroz of the United States.
“I’m feeling so happy to make it into the final and be right up there with the top level of racers,” she said.
“I got a message from my family, they were glued to the live stream, and they’re really proud. Our races aren’t normally broadcast, so to have that as part of the World Beach Games and know we have people back home watching and following is such a cool feeling.”
47-year-old Flintrop was ecstatic to have her best performance of the regatta in her second semi-final race.
“That was amazing, I’m pumped to be able to put my best run out there in the semis,” she said.
“I tried a new tactic, I took a completely different course, tacking out straight away so I had my own space away from the other racers. It worked really well, I was first to the top mark which hasn’t happened the whole regatta.
“I didn’t know what to expect results wise these Games, but to better and better each race and to know I have it in me is a great feeling. And how lucky are we to get the chance to do it in this venue, with incredible architecture everywhere we look.
Beach Volleyball 4x4
The women’s 4x4 Volleyball team faced Brazil in semi-final action at Al Gharaffa Sports Club, with the undefeated Brazilians too strong for Australia.
The Australians were overwhelmed 21-10, 21-11 by a Brazilian team boasting FIVB Tour event winners.
The Australians will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s bronze medal playoff against Canada, where they will look to avenge their 2-0 pool round loss to the Canadians.
As the last event for the Australian Team at the first ever World Beach Games, the women’s team will look to close the Games out with a second medal for the country at the Games in their bronze medal matchup.
You can follow the team in action on the live stream from midnight AEDT.
Beach Handball
The women’s Handball team closed their World Beach Games campaign with a straight sets win over Tunisia 14-13, 13-11.
The team were rewarded for a tournament filled with competitive games and near misses, enjoying closing out the tournament with a well-earned victory.
The men’s team went down to Croatia in their 5-8 ranking game. The team were once again right in the mix, losing an incredibly tight first set 21-20 before the Croats ran away with the second set 35-26.
The men will face Denmark in the 8th place playoff, and will look to reverse their narrow pool round loss to the Europeans.
