BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Australia’s Chris McHugh and Isaac Kapa have won a third Asian Beach Volleyball title, defeating fellow Australians Bo Soderberg and Cole Durant in three sets at Manly Beach. 

Another Australian team, Josh Court and Damien Schumann, won the bronze medal. 

Australia’s Nikki Laird and Mariafe Artacho del Solar won the silver medal in the women’s final, losing to China’s Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia 21-17, 21-10. 

It was a welcome return to form for Kapa and McHugh, who are Australia’s top-ranked international team heading into the Olympic qualifiers. 

“For sure things clicked into place a bit better for us today,” McHugh said. 

“The Asian Championships is a massive thing for us. We’ve had to fight really hard this week, we only won a couple of really tight matches to get through.” 

McHugh’s powerful serve proved the difference in the opening set, blowing Soderberg and Durant away 21-10. 

But the experience of 38-year-old Soderberg and the presence of Durant on the net gave them the second set, 21-19, before Kapa and McHugh took the final set and the match, 15-9. 

McHugh and Kapa dominated beach volleyball in Australia for two summers after 2012, but a serious shoulder injury to Kapa in 2014 set the team back in their quest for Olympic qualification. 

But Kapa said the team is now ready for a final assault on Rio. 

“There’s been ups and downs for sure,” he said. 

“We’ve been trying our best, we’ve been working really hard at our game. 

“It was really great playing on Manly Beach, in front of such a great crowd. It really was a very special win for us.” 

Chinese pair Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia were the dominant team in the women’s competition, not dropping a set for the entire weekend. 

“I think we played better and better, especially in our last two matches,” Chen Xue said. 

“This is a big moment for us, it makes us confident ahead of June. Manly Beach made us feel so welcome, I think it is lucky for us.”  

Asia’s best teams will be back in Australia in June to contest the Asian Continental Olympic qualifiers.

The top men's and women's team from the Asian Continental Olympic qualifiers will progress to Rio and join the top 15 teams from world rankings and the other Continental champions. The second and third ranked teams will have one final chance at the Continental Cup (Olympic Qualification – 4-10 July, 2016) where the two finalists will be the last qualifiers for the Rio Games.

Ross Solly for Volleyball Australia