
Double Aussie Action for Beach Volleyballers on Wednesday
Both Aussie Olympic beach volleyball teams are in action at Tokyo’s Shiokaze Park on Wednesday, with the men taking on Spain at 6pm AEST and the women coming up against Italy at 10pm AEST.
Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann are in a must-win matchup in their third and final pool matchup against Spain’s Herrera and Gaviria, with the winner keeping their Olympic campaign alive, while Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy will aim to build on their first-up victory over Cuba as they take on Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi-Toth.
The Spanish pair of Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gaviria enter the tournament 14th in Olympic rankings, with Athens 2004 silver medallist Herrera competing in his fifth Olympics, while Gaviria is back for his third Games.
“Pablo Herrera is a legend of our sport, bronze medallist in 2004, and Adrian Gaviria has done some phenomenal things in our sport as well,” McHugh said.
Clancy and Artacho del Solar’s second game of their Olympic campaign is against Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi-Toth, who qualified for the Games ranked 18th. The Italians went down in their first game against the Russian Olympic Committee.