Queenslander, Georgina Friedrichs will make her return from injury this weekend having been named in Tim Walsh’s squad for the first leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Dubai.
After missing the Aon University Sevens Series Friedrichs will return this weekend alongside Emma Tonegato who last played a World Series tournament in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar has made a pact with her mum to reunite at the Commonwealth Games, she’s hoping Sydney’s World Beach Volleyball Tour will be her gateway to achieve it.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar came to Australia aged 11 when her family relocated here from Peru.
She had already discovered indoor volleyball back in her native country, but it was in Australia that she discovered her love for beach volleyball.
Her mother has since returned to South America, but the pair has agreed to reunite if Mariafe makes the Commonwealth Games team for next April's event on the Gold Coast.
"When she left I didn't know when we would see each other again, so we set a goal. We said see you in April," she told SBS News.
Coastal champion cyclist Amy Cure has been named among the finalists for the upcoming Cycling Australia Awards for 2017.
The West Pine cyclist has had another year to remember on the track cycling circuit and has been named among the three female finalists in the Elite Track category.
She joins Ashlee Ankudinoff and Stephanie Morton on the list.
In 2017, Cure has competed at the UCI Track World Cup in Los Angeles and played a starring role at the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong, among other events.
In Hong Kong she won bronze in the omnium and collected the same colour medal in the Madison.
She also claimed a silver medal in the team pursuit and along the way she became the first person in track cycling history to win a medal in six different world championship events, taking her career tally to 11.
The countdown to VolleyFest is on, with Manly Beach set to serve up an extravaganza of sun, sand and sport this month.
The festival has become a premier event on the Australian Beach Volleyball Calendar, morphing from a local competition to a major international event following its inclusion in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
For spectators it’s a chance to soak up the beach atmosphere while enjoying some world class sport and entertainment against a backdrop of local cafes and restaurants.
Volleyroos Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar were on hand to officially launch the festival after striking gold for a third straight tournament!
A fraction of a second denied Amy Cure victory at the inaugural Tour of Guangxi women's elite world challenge in China.
Riding for Wiggle High5, the West Pine 24-year-old had to settle for second when narrowly outsprinted by Italian Maria Sperotto (BePink Cogeas) after 2:51:56 and 110 kilometres.
What do you get when you put an Indigenous Olympian alongside a Peruvian-born Olympian on the beach volleyball court? The simple answer is gold.
Taliqua Clancy's great start alongside Mariafe Artacho del Solar has come because of their vastly different cultural backgrounds.
"There's only two of you on the court. And I think those differences can be the success that your have," she told SBS World News.
THE Adelaide Crows women’s AFL team added a rich sprinkling of talent from other sports as they picked up two accomplished soccer players and a basketballer among their draft haul on Wednesday.
Former Adelaide United captain Marijana Rajcic, 28, has played just one season for Norwood in the SANFL women’s league alongside fellow ex-Reds soccer player Ruth Wallace.
They were taken at No. 32 and 38 respectively at the AFLW draft in Melbourne, alongside former basketballer Eloise Jones, who turned down a US college basketball scholarship to pursue Australian football.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: In just their second tournament together Australia’s newest beach volleyball team of Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar have won their second international gold.
The Rio 2016 Olympians defeated Poland’s Kinga Kolosinska and Katarzyna Kociolek in straight sets in the final to claim their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour title at the Qinzhou Open in China.
This win comes off the back of winning gold at their first international tournament at the Osaka Open in Japan last weekend.
Artacho del Solar and Clancy went into the Qinzhou Open as fifth seeds and defeated the top seeds and home favouites Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi 29-27, 21-18 in the semi-finals for a shot at the gold medal.
Kolosinska and Kociolek turned out to be the competition's dark horses. Seeded 30th they defeated second seeds Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross of the United States in straight sets to earn their place in the gold medal showdown.
However the Aussie dymanic duo showed their dominance and took the 21-11, 21-10 victory in 28 minutes, attributing their victory to teamwork and mutual trust.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The new pairing of Rio 2016 Olympians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar has struck gold at their first major tournament together. Cruising past Indonesia in the final of the Osaka Open in straight sets. 21-10 , 21-11.
They went to Japan as a trial new partnership just to see how they might click with Commonwealth Games selections around the corner. Well click they have!
Australia senior Women’s coach Simon Naismith couldn’t contain his delight with the win.
“We thought we’d be able to come here and give the gold medal a good shake but it was really unknown how our skills would be so early in the season but the girls were just fantastic this whole tournament," Naismith said.
The state government has confirmed that Bunbury will host the 2018 BMX Australian national championships.
The event was secured through Tourism WA with Perth also given a chance to host the event in 2021.
BMX is one of the fastest growing sports in Australia, with the country attracting the second biggest number of participants behind the USA.
Sport and Recreation minister Mick Murray said BMX racing has a massive following, becoming an Olympic sport in 2008.
“According to BMX Australia, it was the second most watched sport at Rio 2016,” Mr Murray said.
“Riders of all ages can compete in BMX race meetings throughout Australia, making it a great family friendly pursuit.
“The event will also help to activate community operated infrastructure, such as the BMX tracks in the South-West and Perth.”
Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the news that Bunbury will host the event goes a long way towards the government’s goal to see a boost to regional tourism.
“The 2018 event will provide a fantastic opportunity to promote Bunbury as an exciting and vibrant regional city to thousands of visitors, and provide a boost for the local economy,” she said.
Australia claimed the first-ever Tournament of Nations title with an emphatic 6-1 rout of Brazil at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., on Thursday. Australia won all three of its Tournament of Nations matches to claim the title.
The Matildas entered the match needing only a draw to secure the tournament championship, but six unanswered goals ensured their place atop the four-team group.
In the second minute, Camila slotted a ball in through a throng in front of the goal to give Brazil an early 1-0 lead. But even with the Canarinhas’ early goal, Australia dictated the pace of the game and in the seventh minute Chloe Logarzo drew a foul that awarded a penalty kick to the Aussies. Brazilian goalkeeper Daniele Neuhaus stopped the initial attempt from Lisa Da Vanna, but she was able to pounce on the rebound and bury it into the right side of the net to tie the game.
Australian goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold made a tough stop in the 31st minute, boldly playing the ball at the top of the box to prevent a Brazil attempt. A deft clear found Sam Kerr running downfield, and she took the ball almost all the way before dishing to Caitlin Foord, who tapped it in from close range to give the Matildas a lead they would not relinquish.
Bunbury BMX rider Lauren Reynolds has again done her nation proud, finishing seventh at the 2017 UCI BMX World Championships in the USA.
The two-time Olympian survived a scare in the semi-finals. A slow start saw her last of the eight competitors early on the course but she worked hard to weave her way through the field to finish in third place. The top four in each semi-final moved on to the big race.
Reynolds, 26, battled for clear riding room in the world championship final but pushed all the way to the end to cross the line seventh, just 1.949 seconds behind the winner.
The result improved her official ranking to eighth in the world in the elite women category.
SHE has had her share of injury setbacks in recent times, but Bathurst triathlete Tamsyn Moana-Veale has certainly made a return to form.
After missing a bulk of the 2014 and 15 racing seasons, two podium finishes in Europe this month are a good sign for Moana-Veale.
Bunbury BMX star Lauren Reynolds is ready to take on the world’s best riders for the second weekend running as she contested rounds three and four of the UCI BMX World Cup in Zolder, Belgium.
The dual Olympian grabbed her first podium finish of the year in Papendal, Netherlands last weekend, finishing third in the round two final.
The Masters Games challenge has been thrown down to the Tasmanian business world by Royce Fairbrother, with a little help from a two-time Olympian.
The Fairbrother chairman and Australian Masters Games chairman is one that practices what he preaches, with several of his employees already in training for the cycling component the October event on the North-West Coast.
On Saturday they got some advice and motivation from West Pine cycling star Amy Cure, fresh from her dominant performance at the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong where she collected four medals and became the first person in track cycling history to win a medal in six different world championship events.
Amy Cure spent her weekend collecting medals and creating a little piece of cycling history at the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong.
The 24-year-old from West Pine on Friday won bronze in the omnium and on Saturday collected the same colour medal in the Madison in partnership with South Australia’s Alex Manly, and then finished her busy schedule with 10th pace in the points race on Sunday.
Cure collected three medals from four events, after she, Manly, Ashlee Ankudinoff and Rebecca Wiasak just missed out on gold in the team pursuit on Thursday.
Along the way she became the first person in track cycling history to win a medal in six different world championship events, taking her career tally to 11
The fighting spirit of Amy Cure was on display on Saturday as she and Alex Manly overcame two crashes to capture bronze in the women’s Madison at the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong.
Saturday’s 120-lap final, the first time the event had been staged at a championships, featured a litany of attacks, and with it some crashes, as the field tussled for positioning the changeovers.
Three teams, Belgium, Great Britain and Australia, emerged as leading the contenders across the first half.
However, Australia’s two crashes put them out of contention for the top step of the podium, with Belgium pulling away from Great Britain in the final stages of the race to win a memorable rainbow jersey.
“It was a really tough race, we were unlucky to have two crashes, but we fought pretty hard to bring it back, and never gave up,” Cure said.
Amy Cure collected her 10th individual world championships medal of her career with bronze at in the omnium at the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong, in what is a strong sign for her ambitions in the event.
Cure went into the final points race tied on 112 points with Great Britain’s Kate Archibald.
Archibald scored points in four of the intermediate sprints, including the final one, to ensure her victory with 123 points, with Cure and the Netherlands’ Kirsten Wild tied at 115 points.
Amy Cure had a world championship gold medal ripped from her grasp on Thursday after a remarkable fightback from the US in the final of the women’s team pursuit.
With just one lap remaining in an enthralling 16-lap final, Cure and teammates Ashlee Ankudinoff, Rebecca Wiasak and Alexandra Manly were poised for victory, leading by almost half a second in Hong Kong during day two of the UCI track world championships.
But Chloe Dygert drove the Americans home to steal victory from the Australians.
Despite the heartbreak of the final there were still plenty of reasons for the Cure and her squad to smile.
Thursday delivered the fourth career team pursuit world championship medal for the 24-year-old from West Pine, and this one is one that has plenty of significance.
Annette Edmondson (Wiggle High5) won the second edition of the Pajot Hills Classic in Gooik, Belgium, on Wednesday with a dominant sprint on the uphill finishing straight. Edmondson crossed the line several bike lengths ahead of Barbara Guarischi (Canyon-SRAM) in second and Ilaria Sanguineti (BePink-Cogeas) in third.
