Asia has new champions of the beach, Brazil showed its amazing depth at a domestic tour stop, Hughes and Fendrick took their first step towards Tokyo, we’re on Instagram and more. It’s all here in your Dig It! Beach Volleyball Update.

Asia Senior Championships

Australia and China took home gold medals from last weekend’s Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships in Udon Thani, Thailand.

Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann paired up to take the men’s gold for Australia. They haven’t played together on the FIVB World Tour since early 2018, but that didn’t show on the court. Schumann formed Australia’s best partnership in 2019 with Cole Durant, but swapped for McHugh. McHugh’s partner over the last two years, Zachery Schubert, partnered with Maximilian Guehrer to and won bronze in Cambodia. Wu Jiaxia and Ha likejiang of China won the silver medal. Australia’s new pairs will be tough in the Continental Cup which is the only path to Tokyo for the Aussies.

On the women’s side it was an all Chinese final. Their best women’s team Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia took on challengers Jingzhe Wang and Shuhui Wen. Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia continued a strong 2019 season with gold in this continental championship. The strong showing of other Chinese teams shows that China is poised to dominate Asia in women’s beach volleyball for years to come. The bronze medal went to the top Japanese team, Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami. They lead the way for Japan’s teams in the Olympic rankings.

Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Cherif Samba & Ahmed Tijan decided not to defend their titles from last year.

Brazilian Tour

In Brazil, some favorites for Olympic gold on the men’s and women’s side got their years off to a flying start in Maceió. Evandro, Bruno and Ágatha and Duda picked up gold medals in what both teams hope to be golden years. The competition they faced to reach the podium was as tough as any World Tour tournament.

Ricardo Santos is still going strong 16 years after winning Olympic gold in Athens. He and Vitor Felipe pushed Bruno and Evandro three sets (17-15) in the gold medal match. The bronze went to yet another World Champion, Andre Loyola, and his partner George Wanderley. They beat Alison Cerutti and Álvaro Filho in the bronze medal match. On a quick count, I think that was at least 8 gold medals and world championships in the semifinals. That would have been a fun tournament to watch.

The women’s tournament was just as good. Agatha and Duda beat Olympic rankings leaders, Ana Patricia Ana Patrícia Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti in the semifinal. The silver medalists were Tania Bigli and Victoria Lopes. No fewer than seven youth world championships were won last weekend’s semifinalists, Duda, Ana Patricia, Tania and Victoria. Duda and Tania Bigli won the 2013 U19 World Championships when Duda was one 14 year old! There is a lot of talk about the amazing youth movement in America, but it will be hard for any country to compete with the Brazilians. The bronze medal went to 2015 World Championships runner’s up, Taiana Lima and Fernanda Berti.

Hughes and Fendrick off to a Golden start

Sara Hughes and Lauren Fendrick took the first step of their Olympic bid in Siem Reap, Cambodia earlier this month. They got off to a rocky start at the two-star event with a loss to fellow Americans Traci Callahan and Crissy Jones in their first match. They bounced back to get out of their group and then went on a roll. Their run through the knockout bracket included three straight victories over Japanese teams. They finished off their first defeating another American pair, Terese Cannon and Kelly Reeves in the final.

Sara Hughes and Lauren Fendrick celebrate a big point in the Siem Reap Gold Medal match. Photo by FIVB

Hughes and Fendrick really showed what they are made of in the semifinal against Yurika Sakaguchi and Chiyo Suzuki. In that match, the Americans won the first set but seemed to hit a wall of exhaustion in the second set. Fedrick in particular just seemed to be out of gas and they were routed 13-21 by Japan in the second. Fendrick showed incredible resilience in the third set. It featured many long, lung busting points and ended with a 16-14 win for the USA. They still have a long way to go to make Tokyo, but that was as good of a start as they could have wished for. It not only earned them needed points, they learned how to overcome challenges as a team.

Continental cups

The Continental Cups are the Fifth Path to Tokyo, ensuring that each continent has at least one beach team at the Olympics. With Brazil assured of sending two teams of each gender to the Olympics through the rankings this competition opens the door for other South American nations to make it to the 2020 games. Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia and Argentina are all still alive for the women. On the men’s side, Venezuela picked up a big victory earlier this month and will face Argentina and Chile in June for a spot in the Olympics. Check out the Continental Cup page for information on all the regions of the world.

IOC Statement about the Coronavirus

Late last week the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials restated their commitment to staging the games in Tokyo despite the coronavirus outbreak in neighboring China. At this stage there is no plan B, but they will continue taking recommendations from the World Health Organization as the summer Olympics draw nearer. The impact of the coronavirus on qualification for Beach Volleyball may be a bigger issue with two four-star and one three-star tournaments on the schedule in China. In June, the continental cup finals for Asia are also set to be played in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Follow us on Instagram

If you haven’t found it already, the Beach Volley Blog has an Instagram feed that features short bios about all the teams in addition to some great photos from the FIVB World tour.



