Five of the six medals at the third event on the 2026 AVC Asian Beach Volleyball Tour that came to an end in Chinese Taipei on Sunday were earned by teams of federations benefitting from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support. Australia occupied the entire men’s podium in Pingtung, with Ben Hood & Thomas Hodges (pictured in the main photo; credits: AVC), Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher and D’Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse lining up in first, second and third place, respectively. Their compatriots Taliqua Clancy & Stefanie Fejes topped the women’s podium, while Cherry Ann Rondina & Bernadeth Pons of the Philippines finished runners-up with silver. The women’s bronze went to Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat & Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee.
Volleyball Australia’s beach volleyball department has so far been funded with a total of USD 546,000 worth of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national teams on the sand. Michael Suter, Max Roiuk and Joey Yigit are in charge of the men’s pairs, while Brad Tutton coaches the women’s duos. The Philippine National Volleyball Federation has so far been assisted with a total of USD 915,500 combined in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, some of which has been tagged to their beach volleyball national teams that are benefitting from the expertise of Brazilian coach Joao Luciano Simao Barbosa. In addition, the national federation of the Philippines has received USD 26,000 in beach volleyball equipment.
The three Australian men’s pairs reached the Pingtung semifinals undefeated, with only top-seeded Ben Hood & Thomas Hodges losing one set along the way. In an all-Australian duel for a spot in the final, third-seeded Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher squeezed out a nail-biting 2-1 (13-21, 22-20, 16-14) comeback against second-seeded D’Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse. In the other semifinal, Hood & Hodges put together a 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) shutout of Thailand’s Dunwinit Kaewsai & Banlue Nakprakhong, seeded seventh.
In the gold medal showdown, Hood & Hodges produced a 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) victory over compatriots Nicolaidis & Carracher to top the podium, while Potts & Pearse mastered a 2-0 (21-9, 21-15) sweep of the bronze medal game against Dunwinit & Banlue.
Seeded fourth in the women’s main draw, Australia’s Taliqua Clancy & Stefanie Fejes powered through to the semifinals with four straight-set wins. In the semis, they lost their first set of the tournament, but mounted a solid 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-8) comeback against bracket leaders Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami. Clancy & Fejes added another straight-setter to their tally in the final, 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) against Cherry Ann Rondina & Bernadeth Pons.
The sixth-seeded Filipinos reached the gold medal match without even dropping a set in the five games played along the way in Chinese Taipei. To secure their spot on the podium, Rondina & Pons delivered a 2-0 (21-17, 26-24) semifinal victory over seventh-seeded Taravadee Naraphornrapat & Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee of Thailand.
Naraphornrapat & Worapeerachayakorn bounced back from their first setback of the tournament with a hard-fought 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 17-15) upset of Shiba & Reika for the bronze.
Women’s results and standings
20 men’s teams and 22 women’s teams from 13 different federations took part in the AVC Tour stop in Chinese Taipei.
The next event on the continental tour will take place from June 11 to 14 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
