Beach Pro Tour 2022

Aussie Olympian McHugh starts off new season with gold

The 32-year-old blocker wins first Australian Tour stop with new partner, after Schumann retires from international sport

Published 09:03, 08 Feb 2022

Chris McHugh in action at Tokyo 2020

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Christopher McHugh and his new partner Paul Burnett claimed gold at the Cobram Barooga Classic, the first stop on the 2022 Australian Beach Volleyball Tour, over the weekend.

32-year-old McHugh teamed up with Burnett, who turned 24 last month, after his previous partner Damien Schumann announced his retirement from international beach volleyball shortly before his 34th birthday.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball Australia (@ausvolley)

McHugh and Burnett found immediate success by winning the 2021 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in November, after sensationally downing Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists and world’s number one team Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar in the semifinals.

In Sunday’s final in Cobram, McHugh and Burnett mastered an emphatic 2-0 (21-14, 21-9) shutout of Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis to claim the trophy after five wins in six matches played over the three days of the tournament.

“It’s always a great event in Cobram! It’s my favourite event to come to,” McHugh told Volleyball Australia. “We take confidence every time we step on the court. We’re still a relatively new team so we’re still working out some things in our own game. Paul has played some really good defence this weekend and it’s an element of our game we can continue to improve.”

McHugh & Burnett on top of the Cobram Barooga Classic podium (source: volleyball.org.au)

Chris McHugh has won four medals on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in his career so far, a 2020 Phnom Penh 2-star gold, a gold and a silver at the Shepparton 1-star at home in Australia, and, most notably, a 2014 Klagenfurt Grand Slam bronze. He and Schumann also topped the podium at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Their pairing is currently at number 40 in the FIVB World Ranking.

Burnett has also medalled on the World Tour. He and Maximilian Guehrer took the bronze at the Ljubljana Winter Edition in 2018.

In the absence of Australia’s top pair, Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho, the Cobram Barooga Classic women’s gold went to Phoebe Bell and Stefanie Fejes.

McHugh and Burnett’s three-set quarterfinal win: