BEACH VOLLEYBALL DUO READY FOR FIRST CLASH

By Angela Habashy

LONDON, July 27 AAP: London marks the culmination of three years of preparation for Australia's No.1 beach volleyball duo of Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden who are set to make they're Olympic debut as a team at Horse Guards Parade on Sunday.

For 23-year-old Palmer it will be her first ever Games while London will be Bawden's second Olympics after making her debut as part of the indoor volleyball team at Sydney 2000.

The pair began their journey in 2009 and have since risen through the ranks after consistent strong performances on the world tour, securing their Games berth as the No.16-ranked team.

And Bawden feels the work they've been doing will set them apart from the rest.

"We've been working on our game in a really unique way and we've made choices to define ourselves as quite different to a lot of the other teams in the world," 30-year-old Bawden said.

"We've finding that the better we get at that the more we're able to get up on some of the teams that perhaps we haven't beaten on the past.

"And we're reassured that the things we are doing are moving in the right direction."

Palmer and Bawden will take on German pair Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig on Sunday, a duo who'll be appearing at their second Games after a ninth-placed finish in Beijing.

But after clashing with them numerous times on the world tour Palmer and Bawden feel they have them covered.

"We've played them a few times on the world tour and it's actually reasonably even in terms of the win and loss, we're pretty close with theses guys so it's gong to be a very tough game," Palmer said.

"It's going to be different this time because it's on such a big scale so I think it's going to come down to who plays their game the best."

With Palmer chiming in: "And that's going to be us."

AAP ash/mo