{"id":303581,"date":"2021-08-05T12:05:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T02:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=303581"},"modified":"2021-08-05T12:19:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T02:19:22","slug":"taliqua-guaranteed-a-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/08\/05\/taliqua-guaranteed-a-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"Taliqua Guaranteed A Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 5, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kingaroy’s Taliqua Clancy and her on-court partner Mariafe Artacho del Solar are guaranteed either a silver or gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics after a stunning two-set victory in the beach volleyball semi-finals on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

The fifth-seeded Aussies took on Latvians\u00a0Anastasija Krav\u010denoka and\u00a0T\u012bna Graudi\u0146a at the\u00a0Shiokaze Park courts near Tokyo Bay.<\/p>\n

Clancy and Artacho del Solar went into the match as favourites after beating world champions\u00a0Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes to earn their spot in the semi-final.<\/p>\n

However, the Latvians, who were seeded 16th, also came into the match brimming with confidence after downing Canadians Brandie Wilkerson and Heather Bansley on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The Aussie duo started strongly in the semi and built up a solid lead in the first set – including landing three aces – before the Latvians hauled them back.<\/p>\n

But Clancy and\u00a0Artacho del Solar showed their skills, closing down the set 23-21.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Latvians opened the second set strongly and took an early three-point lead, but the Aussies stuck to their game plan and worked to level the scores at 10-all.<\/p>\n

They then opened a break, sitting comfortably with eight match points.<\/p>\n

The Latvians tried hard and saved one match point but a fault on their last serve gave the set to the Aussies 21-13, and the game 2-0.<\/p>\n

The Australians will now face the experienced US pair of Alix Klineman and April Ross in the gold medal game, to be played at 12:30pm on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Latvians will go into a play-off for the bronze medal.<\/p>\n

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