A number of WAIS water polo athletes have returned from Beijing today, bringing with them both the men’s and women’s titles from the Good Luck Beijing Open.
The Good Luck Beijing Open, which was the official test event for the Olympic water polo venue the Ying Tung Natatorium, saw Gemma Beadsworth feature for the Aussie Stingers and Laurie Trettel, Luke Quinlivan, Tim Neesham, Jamie Beadsworth, Mitchal Ainsworth and Daniel Lawrence feature for the Aussie Sharks in the respective four team tournaments for women and men.
In the women’s tournament a strong line up saw Australia and their arch rivals the USA do battle with Russia and China across four days. The Stingers came out with the gold medal after winning all three of their matches, including a hard fought 7-6 victory over the USA on the final day.
Earlier results saw Australia defeat China 9-6 and Russia 13-8.
In the men’s tournament Australia and China were the only international teams represented, with the other two teams being from the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Guangdong. The Sharks were comprehensive victors in the tournament, going through undefeated while scoring a total of 49 goals and only conceding 18.
The Sharks’ victories were 18-5 over Guangdong, 19-6 over Shanghai and 12-7 over China.
Gemma Beadsworth’s gold medal capped off a big fortnight for the 20-year old from Nedlands.
Before heading to China for the tournament she picked up two major awards after being named 2007 Australian Institute of Sport Junior Athlete of the Year at the annual AIS Awards and being chosen as the inaugural Layne Beachley Aim for the Stars Foundation Outstanding Athlete.
