Pearse & Burnett claim fifth consecutive Beach Pro Tour medal with FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support

• Australia’s Jack Pearse & Paul Burnett celebrate their fifth podium in five Beach Pro Tour appearances

  
  

• Indonesia celebrates first-ever Beach Pro Tour gold, the men’s Wuhan Qingshan Futures silver goes to Brazil

  
  

• China sweep the women’s podium at home

  
  

With coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, Australia’s Jack Pearse & Paul Burnett (pictured in the main photo; credits: Volleyball Australia) celebrated their fifth Beach Pro Tour medal in a row in as many appearances so far as a pair. They took bronze at the Wuhan Qingshan Futures in China last week and lined up on the podium right behind Indonesia’s Bintang Akbar & Sofyan Rachman Efendi and Brazil’s Pedro Oliveira & Henrique Barros. Teenagers Yan Xu & Zhou Mingli topped an all-Chinese women’s podium, with Jiang Kaiyue & Yuan Lvwen and Wang Xinxin & Xing Jiayi also delighting the home crowd with Beach Pro Tour medals.

Volleyball Australia has so far been granted a total of CHF 180,000 worth of coach support for their men’s and women’s national beach volleyball teams. Coach Joey Yigit is in charge of the country’s men’s pairs. 26-year-old Burnett and 22-year-old Pearse reached the semi-finals without dropping a set in three matches played. After suffering a hard-fought 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 15-11) semi-final loss to third-seeded Pedro & Henrique of Brazil, the top-seeded Australians bounced back with a 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) win over second-seeded Jake MacNeil & Alexander Russell of Canada in the third-place match to collect the bronze. Since they started playing together on the Beach Pro Tour, Pearse & Burnett have participated in five tournaments and have collected one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

Indonesia’s Bintang Akbar & Sofyan Rachman Efendi took the gold medal

23-year-old Bintang and 21-year-old Sofyan claimed Indonesia’s first-ever Beach Pro Tour gold. It was only the second Beach Pro Tour appearance for the pair, after finishing fifth at their debut in Pingtan a week earlier. This time the team from Indonesia, seeded fifth in the main draw, cruised through the tournament undefeated in five matches played, losing only two sets along the way. One of these sets was in a tight 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 16-14) quarter-final against Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan & Poravid Taovato, and one in the final against Pedro & Henrique, when Bintang & Sofyan also came back from a set down to celebrate a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-11) victory. In between, Bintang and Sofyan delivered a nail-biting 2-0 (25-23, 22-20) semi-final upset of MacNeil & Russell, who had defeated them in Pingtan.

This time the silver went to 20-year-old Pedro and 18-year-old Henrique, who made it to their second consecutive Beach Pro Tour final, after winning gold in Pingtan the previous week. To reach the Wuhan Qingshan gold medal showdown, the Brazilian team secured a four-match winning streak with a three-set semi-final victory over Pearse & Burnett.

Women’s action at the Wuhan Qingshan Futures (Photo credits: Yu Zhiyong via wuhan.gov.cn)

Indonesia also put on a strong performance in the women’s tournament, but a trio of teams from China stopped Nur Sari & Desi Ratnasari from claiming a place on the podium. 19-year-old Yan Xu and 18-year-old Zhou Mingli did not drop a single set throughout the five matches played in Wuhan Qingshan to pick up their second gold and third overall medal on the Beach Pro Tour. In the semi-finals, the second-seeded duo produced a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) upset of top-seeded Wang Xinxin & Xing Jiayi and followed up with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) sweep of the final against 12th-seeded Jiang Kaiyue & Yuan Lvwen.

28-year-old Yuan and 19-year-old Jiang, who celebrated their first Beach Pro Tour podium as a team, also reached the final without any losses along the way, winning all four of their games in straight sets. In the semi-finals, they achieved a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win over Nur Atika & Desi.

26-year-old Tokyo 2020 Olympian Wang Xinxin and her 19-year-old partner Xing Jiayi also made it to a Beach Pro Tour podium for the first time as a pair, after displaying a hard-fought 2-1 (16-21, 22-20, 15-10) comeback against the duo from Indonesia in the bronze medal match.

Women’s action at the Wuhan Qingshan Futures (Photo credits: Yu Zhiyong via wuhan.gov.cn)

24 men’s and 21 women’s teams representing a total of 17 different countries from all five continental confederations took part in the Wuhan Qingshan Futures. This week’s Beach Pro Tour schedule offers a Futures event in Battipaglia, Italy, from 23 to 26 May, while an Elite16 event in Espinho, Portugal takes place from 22 to 26 May.

Wuhan Qingshan Futures: results and standings