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Kiwi beach volleyball pairing eyeing Olympic qualification despite setbacks

April 4, 2021

Ben and Sam O'Dea are looking for ways to keep their Olympic goal alive

New Zealand beach volleyball duo Ben and Sam O'Dea are fighting to overcome untimely obstacles on their road to Olympic qualification.

Since becoming the first Kiwi beach volleyball team to medal at the Commonwealth Games, they’ve struggled for funding.

To make matters worse, they’ve barely had any matches with Ben having just come back from injury.

But now, Ben is back, and the pair are ready to fight to keep their Olympic dream alive.

The duo have earnt a spot in the elite Cancun Hub in Mexico, hosting some of the best teams in the world for three tournaments in a bubble system at the end of the month.

"Everybody’s going to be competing because there’s still Olympic spots available, there’s ranking points that people still need to achieve," Ben said.

"It’s going to be cutthroat, it’ll be really cool."

Prior to that, they'll be training with Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and his teammate Nick Lucerna, who happen to be coached by Kiwi star Jason Lochhead.

It’s the perfect preparation before Olympic qualifiers in China in June.

"I think they can do it," Lochhead told 1 NEWS.

"They’ve got the potential, they’ve got the talent."

The road will be tough, just months out from the Tokyo Games, but the O'Deas say they will throw everything at it.

"If we want to get better, we just kind of have to get beaten up by guys and just play with better people," Ben said.

"We just want to get out there and prove ourselves, and winning solves everything," Sam said.

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