BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Australia’s U23 beach volleyball world champions, Nicole Laird and Mariafe Artacho del Solar, make their long awaited return to international competition this week as they prepare themselves for an Olympic qualification battle next year.

Laird and del Solar will compete at the Xiamen Open in China, their first major competition since the beach volleyball World Championships in July.

“We’re feeling excited to be on the tour again,” Laird said.

“We’ve been working really hard since our last tour on making gains in the areas of our game which we found to be the farthest behind the best in the world.

“We were lucky to come up against some of the world’s best towards the end of the World Champs, and that’s when we played some of our best volleyball. It gave us the opportunity to see what needed the most work.”

With Australian top seeds, Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy, almost guaranteed qualification for the Rio Olympics, it leaves the door open for del Solar and Laird to qualify through the Asian Continental zone.

“We are a team of high expectations, and always aiming for international standards in everything we do,” del Solar said.

“Therefore we are going for a podium finish here in Xiamen. We’ve had a good preparation in the last two months and we are ready to jump back on the sand and compete again.”

Laird and del Solar will go straight into the main draw in Xiamen, while another Australian team, sisters Jordan and Justine Mowen, will have to win their way through the qualification tournament.

VOLLEYBALL AUSTRALIA