Rio de Janeiro, August 10, 2016 – China’s Fan Wang and Yuan Yue booked their place in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games beach volleyball tournament round of 16 when they defeated Australia’s Nicole Laird and Mariafe Artacho de Solar 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) at the Copacabana Beach Volleyball Arena on Wednesday.
Fan Wang, China
“We feel very happy and very relaxed after this game. Before the match, we set very clear goals for our defense and blocks.
“Today the rain and wind have affected our game and theirs, but I think we managed to perform like we normally do.
“Match after match we are feeling more and more excited, and more and more relaxed.”
Nicole Laird, Australia
“I think honestly it came down to one team probably playing the conditions a bit better and that was China. I think they used the conditions and the wind to their advantage a lot with their service. They put a lot of service pressure on and controlled the tempo between them better than we did.
“We know they're a strong service team, and the difficult thing with them is that it's a big variation in their serve as well.
“Our strategy was to just take away their strongest serve, and then I think the conditions played into that today as well.”
Mariafe Artacho Del Solar, Australia
“I think we needed to be a bit more prepared. You really have to treat it like a baby.
“It's a bit upsetting. For us it's the end, and it being our last game and not being able to leave the court feeling like we did everything we could, I guess, it's disappointing.”