
The VA Board has ratified the following selections for the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships to be held in Satun, Thailand in September as recommended by the Beach Volleyball Selection Committees:
Women
Mariafe Artacho del Solar/Taliqua Clancy
Jessyka Ngauamo/Phoebe Bell
Nikki Laird/Britt Kendall
Men
Chris McHugh/Zac Schubert
Damien Schumann/Cole Durant
Marcus Ferguson/Tim Dickson
Max Guehrer and Paul Burnett have been named as reserves for the men, and Stef Weiler and Bec Ingram as reserves for the women, in case of injury.
The Championships will be held from 24th to 28th September in Satun, southern Thailand.
High Performance Director John Boultbee said “We have six strong teams entered in these championships, which are of special importance to the players
and to VA. This is a real opportunity to get several Australians on the podium, as well as gaining important AVC and FIVB points for Olympic Qualification,
with the qualification period just opening on September 1st. Its not easy to do well at the Asian Championships because of the increasing
competitiveness of many Asian nations in Beach Volleyball. We have Chris McHugh, Damien Schumann, Taliqua Clancy, Nikki Laird and Phoebe Bell returning
as medal winners from last year – McHugh and Schumann won bronze, Clancy won gold with Louise Bawden and Laird and Bell won bronze. But all the
teams we are sending have a number of World Tour events under their belts from the last few months, and the motivation will be high to achieve
our podium ambitions. The selections have been mainly based on the current FIVB entry points the players have gained through their efforts over
the past year. ”