Photo by AVC
XIA Xinyi and Wang Jingzhe were crowned the women’s champions in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships Sunday at the Nuvali Sand Courts in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
The women’s all-Chinese final affair saw top-rated Xia and Wang beat fourth seeds Xue Chen and Zeng Jinjin, 21-18, 21-19, for the crown.
Xia and Wang were unbeaten en route to winning their title, dropping only one set to compatriots Yan Xu and Zhou Mingli in the quarterfinals.
China now has 12 women’s titles in the Asian Championships and among them were four from Xia, a four-time Olympian who won it with four different partners.
Xia took her first continental gold in 2016 with her partner Xue Chen. She claimed her second title in 2020 with new partner Wang Fan before switching to Xue Chen last year.
With Wang Jingzhe as her new tandem, it was the same result for Xia.
AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open champions Jana Milutinovic and Stefanie Fejes of Australia bagged the women’s bronze with a 21-15, 21-19 over seventh seeds Asami Shiba and Saki Maruyama of Japan.
Meanwhile, D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse made gritty plays against the more experienced Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher, emerging victorious in the all-Australian men's final, 21-19, 21-19.
Potts and Pearse went also unbeaten in the tournament, defeating the Philippines’ Lerry Francisco and Rancel Varga in straight sets in the preliminaries.
Iran's Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab, the men’s Nuvali Open champion in April, wound up in third place this time after stopping China’s Wu Jiaxin and Ha Likejiang, 21-15, 21-17.
