Great day for O’Dea brothers who bag bronze at beach
They might annoy each other at times, but Tauranga brothers Ben and Sam O’Dea are now Commonwealth Games bronze medallists.
The Kiwi beach volleyballers beat the more experienced English pair of Chris Gregory and Jake Sheaf 21-13, 21-15 at the iconic Coolangatta beachfront setting on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
And while basking in the glory of their medal-winning effort, Ben admitted he and Sam can get on each other’s nerves.
‘‘I’m sure we can both say yes (to that) at times. We are best mates, brothers, and beach volleyball partners.
‘‘One of the best decisions we’ve both made is to not live with each other.’’
But while they might not share a home, the O’Dea brothers will surely share in celebrations, having defied their world ranking to claim a cherished medal they hope will be a stepping stone towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
‘‘We can’t wipe the smiles off our faces,’’ said Sam. ‘‘It’s definitely at the top of the list.’’
‘‘We played strong in both sets, which is unlike us if you’ve followed our matches so far. We did a good job steering the ship.’’
The Kiwis were seeded fourth in the competition and their world ranking of 144 was well in the shadow of the third-seeded British combination’s ranking of 59.
Ben said they had done well to move past Wednesday night’s semifinal loss to Canada.
‘‘We did a good job getting over that loss. We understood that they were the better team that night. We just had to move on.’’
New Zealand had beaten England 2-1 in pool play but their performance was on another level when it mattered most with a medal on the line, needing just 40 minutes to snare the bronze.