Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Nikki Laird are about to embark on world tour events in Russia and Germany, but as they prepare to take on the best in the world, they have one eye fixed on Cairns and their lone shot at securing a place on the team for the Rio Olympics.
Del Solar and Laird will play in the Moscow grand slam event next week alongside the cream of the sport, including Australia’s top-ranked duo Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy.
They will then spend a week in Hamburg, in Germany, at a training camp, and will play the Hamburg major tournament before jetting home for the winner-takes-all Continental Cup in Cairns from June 20.
“Being our last two international events before we head to Cairns for the Olympic qualifier event, it’s really critical in our preparation,” Del Solar said.
“All the Olympic teams are going to be there. The quality is high so for us it is a good way to take our game out there and make sure we prepare the best we can and come back in a good spot.”
The pair head to Europe brimming with confidence: they recently walked away from the Asian Tour with three gold medals and a bronze.
“Top 10 would be really good for us being a grand slam event,” Del Solar said.
“Top five would be the big, big goal for us. That’s the plan — to have a good performance and use that as a good confidence boost for us being able to compete against the best in the world.”
Del Solar and Laird were thrown together as a pairing nearly three years ago.
Del Solar was born in Lima, Peru, but moved to Australia when she was 11 and her introduction to the sport was serendipitous. Her older brother asked her to play in a social beach tournament and she was hooked.
Soon after, at a state camp, her former coach Dieter Rohkamper asked her to try a few sessions on Manly beach. Now she is on the verge of qualifying for the Olympic Games for her adopted country.
Of her pairing with Laird, she said: “It takes a lot of time. You have to really know each other’s everything really. When you’re up, when you’re down, how you’re feeling, when something is up.
“It’s almost like a relationship. You are in each other’s pocket every day. We train together, we travel together, when we stay overseas, we room together.
“You do get to know each other very well. When someone is not feeling well, when something is up, you know straight away.
“We have worked a lot in the way we communicate, the honesty and trust. When it comes down to it, that’s what gets you through those tough points in the game when you have to work together as a team, back each other and stay tight.”
Their European jaunt means they will return to Australia with barely a week to prepare for Cairns.
It gives them precious little time to adjust their bodies to the change in time zones, particularly given the stakes are so high.
“It’s single elimination: you have to win the event,” Del Solar said of the Continental Cup.
“Every day no doubt we think about it. But we have been very strong in taking one step at a time, being focused on the present and where we are now.
“Where we are now with this Russian event and one game at a time, that is going to help us to focus when we get to the actual event — the Continental Cup.”
