News Beach volleyball 03/11/2013 Xue/X. Y. Xia confidently take Phuket Open gold Phuket, Thailand, November 3, 2013 – China’s Chen Xueand Xinyi Xia clinched gold in the final of the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball Phuket Open on Sunday. The penultimate FIVBOpen event of the season running from October 29 to November 3, is back in Thailandfor an eight consecutive year.Xue/X. Y. Xia never allowed USA’sEmily Day and Summer Ross to find the play that had brought them to the medalmatch, taking the gold in only 36 minutes 2-0 (21-16, 21-18). A sensationalmatch from X. Y. Xia, at just sixteen years old, complemented Xue perfectly whotakes gold in Phuket for a third time.In the bronze medal match Brazilian’s Maria ClaraSalgado Rufino and Carolina Solberg faced Agatha Bednarczuk and Maria Antonelli.Maria Clara/Carol’s skill in bringing the ball back into play from every anglesecured the bronze in another two set finish 2-0 (21-18, 24-22).X.Y. Xia shinesX. Y. Xia appeared to have springs as she bouncedaround the court serving up cross court smash after smash which stoppedDay/Ross in their tracks. USA managed to find the open court for some well-appointedDay hits that kept the score level in the first set 11-11, but incredibleChinese teamwork began to run away with it and ended the first, 21-16.The second was more evenly matched with Day/Rossfinding confidence, but X. Y. Xiacontinued to deliver that unstoppable smash. USA saved two match points, firstthanks to Day and then a tip over Xue at the net by Ross, but it was thesignature cross court X. Y. Xia slam that secured the gold for China. “We are so excited, it’salmost our last tournament of the year. It’s very great to play here and it’sour lucky place,” said Xue. I must say Xinyi played verywell and she created a new history in a Chinese team, as she is the youngest atjust sixteen years old and she made her first gold medal, so I’m very proud ofher.” “It was a good experiencefor me and I played every ball very seriously which helped the result,” said X. Y. Xia.Chen Xue has won gold in Phuket twice before, in 2006and 2011 with partner Zhang Xi, but joins Xia Xinyi in Phuket in only theirsecond tournament together. After finishing ninth in Xiamen Grand Slam lastweek, the pair had little expectation entering Phuket. “We were preparing for thismatch, just to be in no rush and don’t think too much just do our best,” saidXue. We just thought we would getinto the top eight, so this is our best record. After we got through to thesemifinal, we hadn’t thought about it before.” Despite professing theirdesire for gold, the silver medal is Day/Ross’s best result and first ever podiumfinish. The pair has also only been in the final four once before when theyfinished fourth at Long Beach Grand Slam this year. “We wanted the goldobviously, but proud that we had such a great finish this tournament,” saidDay.They played an awesome matchand really did well against us, so we couldn’t do too much.”“I thought they were a greatteam and there’s just a lot to learn from them. They’re great,” said Ross.I can’t believe that girl’ssixteen, come on, how is that possible? She’s good.”Day/Ross have played in seventournaments together since teaming up at the beginning of the year, and with Rossbeing the only player to win gold medals at the U19 and U21 World Championshipsin the same season, the pair are beginning to reach their potential. “We really wanted a medal. Thathas been our goal all year, to earn an FIVB medal so I guess we achieved our goal,but obviously we want gold,” said Day. This was our last tournamentthis season so we’re into off-season now and we’ll rest, regroup and get readyfor next year.” SalgadobronzeMaria Clara/Carol take bronze in Phuket for a secondtime after taking home the medal in 2010, and this becomes the eleventh bronzethe pair has earned at senior level. In the bronze medal match, it was familiarfaces all round for the Brazilians Maria Clara/Carol and Agatha/Antonelli.It was a close affair in the first set with someoutstanding rallies and well-read defence from both teams, but a couple ofservice errors by Agatha/Antonelli followed by a hit down the line from MariaClara ended the first set 21-18.Agatha did a great job of utilising any open court,powering the ball into the space allowing Agatha/Antonelli a four point leaduntil Maria Clara/Carol caught up at 13-13. From there it was a battle to theend with Carol serving into the net at match point. She quickly made up for it,booking the bronze with a cross court smash. “We’re happy forsure because we still get to be on the podium,” said Maria Clara.We still had the feeling ofthe semifinal against China inside of us and it’s been a hard week for us. Igot sick, a lot of players did, but I’m glad that we went through all of thistogether and we showed how strong we could be together even when we haveproblems. Carol was amazing she supported me the whole week bringing me foodand I was just in the room resting as much as I could.”“They are an amazing team,Maria and Agatha. We know each other very well, we practice together, so weknew that would be a tough match and it’s so hot here. We love to play here andfor me it’s really special, when I’m not feeling great I look at the sea andthe sun and the crowds and it’s very special. They supported us a lot,” said Carol.Maria Clara/Carol complete the season with one gold,two silver and now three bronze medals after a year off in 2012 for Carol’smaternity leave.“It’s the last tournament ofthe FIVB for us so it’s nice to be on the podium, we’re pretty happy. I’m moreexcited to start next year, it was so nice this year, for sure it was our bestyear, so I’m looking forward to playing even better next year,” said Carol. Thailand has hosted over 10 women’s and one men’s FIVBtournament. Overall, the USA has been the most successful with 10 medalfinishes in the seven FIVB World Tour events held in Phuket.The tournamentpreviously ran from 2006 until 2011, when the event moved to Bangsaen in 2012.China’s Chen Xue and Zhang Xi won the 2011 edition, while Jennifer Kessy andApril Ross were victorious in 2012. Phuketis an island located to the south of Thailand, while the city of Phuket is theisland’s capital and home to 75,000 people. It is located 825 kilometres fromBangkok, the capital of Thailand.Thefinal FIVB Open of the season will be held in Durban, South Africa from 11 to15 December. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News