PHUKET COMEBACK KEEPS OLYMPIC FLAME BURNING FOR BAWDEN AND PALMER

Beach Volleyball, November 8: Australia’s top ranked beach volleyball pairing, Louise Bawden and Becchara Palmer have clinched a top 20 finish in the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, keeping their Olympic qualification dreams very much alive.

On the two-teams per nation basis, which is the crucial factor for initial Olympic qualification, the Adelaide-based AIS pairing are sitting in 15th position which at the end of the initial Olympic qualification process on June 17 would see an Australian pair qualify at least one women’s team for London 2012.

Bawden and Palmer arrived back in Australia this week full of confidence in their bid for Olympic selection after an encouraging comeback in the final round of the World Tour in Phuket last weekend.
 
With the countdown continuing for Olympic spots, the 19th seeded Bawden and Palmer finished fourth in the $190,000 Phuket final round – going down in a hard fought bronze medal match to Italian pairing, fifth seeds Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti.
 
But the good news for the pair were the vital points gained in the neck-and- neck battle as teams strive to finish in the top 16 on the FIVB Olympic Rankings before the Continental Cup process which will see also see one country qualify from each of the five continents.
 
Those 21 teams will join hosts Great Britain and two other countries from the final Beach Volleyball World Cup Final Olympic Qualification tournament to make up the 24 team Olympic tournament.
 
But Bawden and Palmer won’t just be satisfied with a top 16 finish and will head off to the Asian Championships next month determined to start their build up to break into the top 10.
 
“While it was disappointing not to win the bronze medal play-off, to qualify for the top four is where you want to be on finals days and it is our aim to make those top four positions a lot more consistently and start our challenge for the top 10,” said Bawden.

 
“A combination of hard training, knowledge and team work helped us through some very tight situations in what was a tough draw against the three Brazilian and two US teams.
 
“Bec had a strong event and I was able to tidy things up and provide the power behind her but we were prepared to put our bodies on the line in tough, hot conditions and were able to back up game after game.
 
“That’s full credit to our team behind us here at the AIS, our coaching staff, our strength and conditioning coach, our physio all play a part in getting us through.”
 
It was Palmer and Bawden’s first tournament back since the Quebec round in July when they were forced to withdraw following Palmer’s severe abdominal muscle strain.

But there were no signs of backing off in Phuket as the Australian girls made it known in the early rounds that that meant business.
 
In the play-off for the bronze it was the Italians who overwhelmed Bawden and Palmer  in two sets, 21-19 and 21-15 in 47 minutes in the Australians’ first bronze medal play-off of the tour.
 
For the Italians, their season-ending bronze medal increased their Series edge to 2-1 against the Australian pair, who at one stage in the tightly-fought opening set had led 12-15.
 
But Cicolari and Menegatti fought back to lead 18-17 and after a tie at 18-18, the Italians closed out the set with a Menegatti kill and a Cicolari ace to go up 20-18.
 
In the second and final set, Australia scored first and after three early ties, the Italians took the lead for good at 4-3 and quickly built it up to six points at 12-6 when Australia then called a medical time out for back spasms.

After the five-minute time out, the Italians kept the Australians five points down until the final margin at the finish.
 
But for the Australian girls it was an encouraging fight back from an injury-plagued later half of the international circuit.
 
They had gone down in the first semi-final, to Xue and Zhang who overcame a knee injury to Zhang early in the second set to win 21-18 and 21-13 in 43 minutes.
 
Palmer and Bawden had come out all guns blazing and advanced to the semi-finals by defeating the USA’s Fendrick and Hanson in three sets 23-21, 18-21 and 15-12 in 65 minutes.

Earlier in the tournament Palmer and Bawden went down fighting to eventual silver medallists the USA’s Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in a marathon 76 minute quarter-final 21-19, 18-21 and 15-11, one of the longest matches of the tournament.
 
Palmer and Bawden led 4-7 in the tiebreaker set but Kessy and Ross scored five consecutive points to take a 9-7 lead and Australia never got closer than two points after that point.
 
Also encouraged by improving performances in the Olympic qualification race were seasoned pairing, four-time Olympian Natalie Cook and her Beijing partner Tamsin Hinchley, who placed ninth after going down to eventual Phuket gold medallists China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang 21-19, 21-14 in 44 minutes in a tough round three match.

After being unbeaten through qualification Cook and Hinchley then bowed out to USA’s 11th seeds Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson who would eventually fall to Bawden and Palmer as they mounted their medal charge.
 
They will also set themselves for the Asian Championships.
In Sunday’s gold medal match on the tropical Karon Beach centre court, China’s top-seeded China’s Xue and Zhang defeated USA’s second- seeded Kessy and Ross, 21-16, 21-14 in the 40-minute title match.