- Three-time Olympic champion loses vital qualifying match
- Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil will represent USA instead
Three-time beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings was defeated in her bid to reach a sixth Olympics when she and partner Brooke Sweat lost in a qualifying match on Wednesday in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
The early-round loss to the Netherlands means the US pair could not overtake fellow Americans Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil on the international tour point list. Two-time Olympic medalist April Ross and her partner, Alix Klineman, have already clinched a berth in Tokyo, and there is a quota of two teams for each country in each of the women’s and men’s fields.
Related: Olympics chief says Games will proceed after Covid official voices concerns
