BRONZED BEACH GIRLS TAKE ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS LONDON

Beach Volleyball, December 12: Australia's Beijing Olympic Beach Volleyballers Tamsin Hinchley and Natalie Cook have finished 2011 on winning note with a hard fought bronze medal win  in the Asian Championships in Haikou to keep their London campaign very much on track.

Hinchley and Cook have battled their way around the world on the FIVB World Series, chipping away at crucial qualifying points and battling injury.

They now face a nail-biting countdown when the World Series resumes next February.

The event was dominated by the host country with China snatching both gold and silver with Hinchley and Cook beating the Japanese pair Satoko Urata and Takemi Nishibori for the bronze.

The pair have to keep moving up the rankings and either make the top 16 teams in the world or play through the Continental Cup qualification Series.

In what was a solid weekend for the Australian teams, Louise Bawden and Becchara Palmer finished fifth while in the men's division Josh Slack and Chris McHugh finished fourth and Isaac Kapa and Sam Boehm were ninth after losing to Slack and McHugh in the first single elimination round.

The men's gold medal went to Iran with China taking silver and Kazakhstan the bronze after Alexandr Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko's defeated Slack and McHugh, two sets to love, 21-19; 21-14.

Hinchley wrote on her Australian Olympic Committee diary that it was "an inspiring way to finish 2011 and gives momentum to our 2012 campaign." 

"It has been a really tough year but every time we have been under the pump we have come up with the wins," said Hinchley.

"It adds 400 points to our Olympic Qualification total and most likely puts us into the main draw for the first World Tour event of 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Hinchley said her and Cook were "playing really well together and importantly we are able to make tactical changes as we go."

"It's great to be hitting the targets we have set ourselves and the added bonus is that we are covering the costs of flights and accommodation with the prize money- it is a small but important stress relief," said Hinchley.

"It's the little things that help the big trip to the Olympics. Being able to bring home a medal to show Arley (my son) and my family makes me feel really proud."

The Australian combinations will return to Australia for this weekend's round of the Renault National Beach Volleyball Series at Adelaide's Glenelg Beach.

For Tamsin Hinchley's Olympic Diary click on http://london2012.olympics.com.au/athletes/diaries/tamsin-hinchley