Sport: Vanuatu volleyballers looking to bounce back in Cairns

Transcript

Vanuatu beach volleyball duo Linline Matauatu and Miller Pata have finished agonisingly short of securing automatic qualification for the Rio Olympics.

The Melanesian duo needed to make the semi finals at the latest World Tour event in Hamburg to get into the top 15 in the world by the end of last weekend but came up two wins short.

The President of Vanuatu Volleyball, Debbie Masauvakalo, told Vinnie Wylie they have two more chances to seal their ticket to Brazil.

DEBBIE MASAUVAKALO: They finished sixteenth so one spot below top fifteen so in their last event in Hamburg they needed to reach the semi finals. We needed two more wins and we fell short. We faced the Brazilian number one team in round two and unfortunately we lost...and we didn't achieve those two wins and achieve getting into the top fifteen but I was speaking to the coach Jason Lochhead and Jason is really happy with where the girls are at now with their performance and their game. They're very strong, they're looking good so they've been playing on the World Tour for the last few months, playing the best teams in the world. They're in good form so we should hopefully get a good outcome at the Continental Cup in Cairns next weekend...and we hope that all the Pacific Islanders and South Sea Islanders that live in Cairns or surrounding areas will come out and support their Pacific team at the Continental Cup.

VINNIE WYLIE: Mentally, after coming so close are the girls still upbeat...or is it easy to switch that off and move to the next target?

DM: No they're not really too disappointed. I mean, yes, they wanted to achieve top fifteen but I think they're just happy at where they are now with their game and they're still really motivated and passionate to get to the Olympics - they're really driven - so they will keep that drive through to the Continental Cup.

VW: And so in Cairns what do they have to do and who will be their chief rivals I guess?

DM: So each country comes with two teams and it's country versus country so we will be taking our second team as well to Cairns. You have to come first at the Continental Cup to qualify for the Olympic Games. If you finish second or third you have to then travel to the Continental Cup final in Russia - that will be the following week on the sixth of July - and the first and second from the Continental Cup final also takes an Olympic berth, they take the last two spots. It's still a long and a very expensive road ahead so we're just praying and hoping that the girls win the Continental Cup in Cairns because if not we need to find a lot more money to pay for their flights to Russia.