Chris McHugh and Paul Burnett claimed bronze for Autralia in the Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Torquay on Sunday, taking out the Portuguese team of Joao Pedrosa and Hugo Campos.
McHugh and Burnett, Commonwealth Games gold medallists in Birmingham, led for most of the match against the Portuguese, winning their first set 21-18 and closing out the second 21-15 to take their first straight-sets victory of the event.
“It was a really good performance for most of the day,” said McHugh.
“Portugal came to play. We got out to an early lead and they came back, but Paul’s serve was clutch at the end and put a lot of pressure on them.
“To come away with the bronze medal at your home event is really special and I am sure we’ll look back at this season really fondly in the future.”
Burnett highlighted the Torquay supporters who had encouraged them all week and the importance of hosting international events in Australia for local audiences.
“It’s something that I didn’t get to see when I was growing up, so I didn’t get into the sport until a lot later,” he said.
“So for all these kids of seven or eight to be here and see this stuff and get inspired is awesome. It just bodes really well for the future of Australian beach volleyball.”
Daniele Lupo and Enrico Rossi, who defeated McHugh and Burnett 2-1 in the men’s semi-final, took out the gold in an all-Italian final against Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula, winning 2-0 (21-17, 21-18).
The women’s medal matches were both battled out between China and USA, with Americans Sarah Hughes and Kelly Cheng defeating Lvwen Yuan and Jie Dong 2-0 (21-11, 21-16) to take gold and China’s Xinyi Xia and MeiMei Lin beating Emily Stockman and Megan Kraft 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-9) for the bronze.
