AUSSIES PREPARE FOR 2022 ASIAN SENIOR WOMEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
As the countdown heats up to the 2022 Asian Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championships, Volleyball Australia is pleased to confirm the three Australian teams.
Birmingham 2022 and Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy will make their return to international competition, while Rio Olympian Nikki Laird will team up with Phoebe Bell, with Queensland young guns Georgia Johnson and Alisha Stevens to form Australia’s second team.
It will be the first international competition for Artacho del Solar/Clancy since they won silver at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in August.
Laird/Bell and Johnson/Stevens have been in Thailand for a couple of weeks, playing in the AVC Beach Tour Roi Et Open last week to put the finishing touches on their preparations.
Laird/Bell made their way through the competition to the semi finals, but fell just short against Japan’s Miki Ishii/Sayaka Mizoe.
With their focus now set on the Asian Championships, Laird said she is excited to see what the duo can produce.
“We are feeling good in the lead up to the Asian Championships – we had some olid preparation in Australia and through the international season,” Laird said.
“We are feeling confident in the volleyball that we are playing. To play in the AVC Beach Tour event in the lead up was important to our team – we had two very close losses to some strong teams and also some convincing wins as well.
“This shows that we are ready to compete at the level necessary to podium at the Asian Championships,” she said.
Johnson/Stevens also had a good run in the AVC Beach Tour Roi Et, bowing out in the quarterfinals to Thailand’s Worapeerachayakorn and Tarawadee. They’ll enter the 2022 Asian Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championships as 12th seeds.
The 2022 Asian Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championships gets underway on Wednesday 14th September.
CLICK HERE to visit the 2022 Asian Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championships website.
