Argentina, China, Cuba and Kenya take Olympic berths

Argentina, China, Cuba and Kenya will all be represented at the women’s beach volleyball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics next month after the four countries prevailed in their regions as Continental Cup winners.

Of the four, China were the only country already guaranteed a place at the Games as Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia had earned the nation a berth via the Olympic rankings. A second one was claimed at the Asian Continental Cup Finals, which took place in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Chen Xue and her partner Xinxin Wang were responsible for China’s qualification as they single-handedly carried their country to the top after teammates Shuhui Wen and Jingzhe Wang sustained an early injury and had to forfeit all their three matches in the tournament.

On Sunday, the 32-year-old Xue, a former world champion, and the 24-year-old Wang were in top form, defeating two Japanese teams in straight sets to confirm China’s qualification. The Chinese started the day downing Akiko Hasegawa and Azusa Futami 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) and repeated the score (21-17, 21-15) against Chiyo Suzuki and Yurika Sakaguchi.

Kenya set for Olympic debut

In Agadir, Morocco, Brackcedes ‘Blaque’ Agala, Phosca Kasisi, Gaudencia Makokha and Yvonne Wavinya wrote a historic chapter in Kenyan beach volleyball as they won the African Continental Cup Finals and qualified their country for the Olympics for the first time.

The Kenyans swept Nigeria in two matches with Gaudencia and Blaque defeating Francisca ‘Franco’ Ikhiede/Amara Uchechukwu 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 15-10) and Wavinya and Phosca following that up with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-10) victory over Tochukwu Nnoruga/Albertina Francis to book their tickets to Tokyo.

Kenya, who also qualified their women's volleyball team for Tokyo, will become the fourth African nation to field a women’s team at an Olympic beach volleyball tournament joining South Africa (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), Mauritius (London 2012) and Egypt (Rio 2016).

Cuba are back at the Games

After failing to qualify women’s teams to the London 2012 and the Rio 2016 Olympics, North, Central American and the Caribbean (NORCECA) standout Cuba are back at the Games after the nation was the last standing in the region’s Continental Cup Finals, which took place in Colima, Mexico.

Cuba ended their campaign on Mexican sand with a pair of victories over the hosts which secured their return to the Games. Lidianny ‘Lidy’ Echevarria and Yanisleydis Sanchez started the day putting the Caribbeans in a good position with their 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) victory against the Mexican top team of Martha Revuelta and Zaira Orellana. And Leila Martinez and Maylen Deliz ended it with another two-set (21-16, 21-7) triumph, this one over Susana Torres and Maria Jose Quintero, to clinch the Olympic ticket.

Dalixia Fernandez and Tamara Larrea represented Cuba at the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics, finishing ninth on each occasion.

Argentina qualify for third consecutive Olympics

In Asuncion, Argentina secured their third-straight participation at the Olympics with a victory at the South American Continental Cup Finals.

The country’s squad finished the tournament strong, winning all of their first three matches against Venezuela to end the best-of-five matches series early. Brenda Churrin and Cecilia Peralta were on fire, winning both of their matches, while two-time Olympian Ana Gallay and her partner Fernanda Pereyra won the other.

Gallay was 19th at London 2012 with Virginia Zonta and repeated the finish four years later in Rio with Georgina Klug in the only two appearances of an Argentinean team at the Olympics.

The Olympic berths awarded to these countries are assigned to their respective national federations, which will make a decision regarding the teams selected to play at the Tokyo Games.