July 30, 2024
Kingaroy’s Taliqua Clancy and her on-court partner Mariafe Artacho del Solar face a vital game on Friday against Canada.
The Aussie beach volleyballers, who took home Silver at the Tokyo Olympics, have notched up one win and one loss so far in the preliminary stages of their Paris campaign.
On Sunday, Taliqua and Mariafe got off to a great start, defeating the Chinese pair of Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia 2-1 (22-20, 12-21 and 16-14) in a hard-fought game.
On Tuesday, they came up against the United States duo of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth.
Despite a valiant effort on the sand court created in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the Aussies were defeated in straight sets (21-16, 21-16) by the Pool B leaders.
On Friday, Taliqua and Mariafe will face Canadians Heather Barnsley and Sophie Bukovec who are yet to win a game in the competition.
The Australians are sitting at third spot on the Pool B ladder behind the Chinese duo.
Both teams have recorded one win, but China is ahead on a points ratio.
Only the top two teams in each pool – and the two best-ranked third-placed teams – will go through to the next stage of the competition.
Other third-ranked teams go to the “lucky loser” elimination round.
Australia is fielding only one women’s team in the beach volleyball but have two teams chasing glory in the men’s competition.
