Vanuatu beach volleyball

The Vanuatu pair outlasted Russia’s Anastasiia Frolova and Aleksandra Ganenko 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-11) and Australia’s Brittany Kendall and Stefanie Weiler 2-1 (21-18, 13-21, 14-16).

They finished at the top of Pool C.

Vanuatu could meet either Thailand or Russia in the quarter-finals.

Photo supplied 

This follows the decision not to allow 16^th ranked Vanuatu beach-volleyball girls to replace Italy, after one of the Italian girls returned a positive drugs test.

“The decision is outrageous,” said a very disappointed VASANOC Secretary General, Cyrille Mainguy.

“We are devastated by this decision. It seems to me that beach-volleyball is only for rich countries.”

Mainguy said the nation of Vanuatu and Oceania in general were devastated when the girls did not qualify through the continental championship.

The 22nd ranked pair came from a set down to beat the 11th seeds from Italy 19-21 21-14 15-10, before losing their second match in straight sets against the sixth seeds from Brazil.

The Melanesians are in top form, having matched their best ever finish on the World Tour, after finishing in a tie for fifth at last week's Long Beach Grand Slam in California.

In the afternoon match against Vanuatu, the PNG men bounced back from one set down to defeat their Melanesian brothers.    

The win maintains their standing as pool leader in their group.

Kilarupa and Mea’s combined effort in the blocks, set and hitting department won them the match.

Vanuatu won the first set 23-21, and PNG replied with 21-10 and 15-7 to win.

While in the earlier encounter, PNG defeated Fiji men’s 2 sets to nil.