Boulton and Johns 25th at Japan Open
26th May 2009The University of Bath-based British beach volleyball pairing of Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns finished 25th at the Swatch FIVB Japan Open World Tour event in Osaka.
The pair battled their way through the qualification draw to book a place in the main draw. But they lost both of their main draw matches, despite putting up strong battles.
They lost their opening contest against Brazillian number four seeds Renata Riberio and Vanilda Leao. The British pair pushed the Brazilians to three sets in a 51-minute contest that finished 18-21, 21-19, 12-15.
That pitched them against Dutch players Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer. The Brits won the first set 21-15 but then went down 14-21, 11-15 in the remaining two sets. The Dutch pair went on to finish third in the tournament.
Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin won their opening game in the qualification draw, but then lost their second one, missing out on the main draw.