Olympic qualifier

Vanuatu Women’s Beach Volleyball through to final round

This is after a hard-fought victory over New Zealand in the Tokyo 2020 AVC Continental Cup Qualifier Phase One – Oceania tournament in Mt Maunganui on Thursday.

With just four women’s teams contesting for the title and the prized spot in the final qualifying phase in June, the competition draw proceeded straight to the semi-final format where Vanuatu played Solomon Islands and New Zealand took on Fiji, which was a late entry due to the withdrawal of the Tuvalu women’s team earlier in the week.

Vanuatu rower qualifies for Rio Olympics

RNZI reports the 24 year old only starting competing five years ago and has represented Vanuatu at three senior World Championships.

He missed out on automatic qualification, having finished 13th out of 20 at last months Asia/Oceania Championships in Korea (the top seven qualified directly), but was awarded a place in Brazil by the International Olympic Committee.

New Zealand Football's appeal to be considered next week

The All Whites were thrown out of the competition in Papua New Guinea’s capital after a protest made by semi-final opponents Vanuatu over the eligibility of South African-born Deklan Wynne was upheld at a disciplinary hearing on July 12.

Vanuatu, who were handed a 3-0 walkover win despite succumbing to a 2-0 defeat in their last-four encounter, went on to play Fiji in the final later that same day, losing 4-3 on penalties at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium.