New Zealand has announced their men’s selection for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Sam O’Dea/Ben O’Dea. This is the first time that beach volleyball is being introduced at the Commonwealth Games, with the O’Dea brothers being joined by Kelsie Wills/Shaunna Polley to represent New Zealand.
The O’Dea brothers have had a slow competitive season due to an injury, but that has not stopped the pairing from eyeing their first Commonwealth Games appearance. The pairing is seeded fourth behind Canada, Australia and England. Canada will be the team to beat at the games and the brothers have had many run-ins with the Australian squads and will look to keep that rivalry going.
The selection to the Commonwealth Games comes as a huge boost for the pairing as they have their eyes set on representing New Zealand at the Olympics one day.
“Being selected for the Commonwealth Games is special, and with it being the first time beach volleyball has been played at the Commonwealth Games makes it even more exciting,” said Sam O’Dea to Stuff.co.nz.
The competition will be held in Gold Coast, Australia from April 6-12 with New Zealand taking on England, Cyprus and Mozambique in Pool C. The top-eight teams after the preliminary rounds of the competition will move onto the quarterfinals followed by the semifinals and finals if they continue to win.
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