China won their series against United States at the first Beach ParaVolley Standing World Series event in Pingtan ©ParaVolley

The United States and China earned men’s and women’s gold, respectively, at the inaugural Beach Para Volley Standing World Series event in Pingtan in China today.

Chris Seilkop, Dave Newkirk and Eric Duda delivered a brilliant 21-19, 14-21, 15-8 finish to defeat Poland 1, while China’s Li Min, Xu Danshu and Chen Yalin confirmed their dominance against the United States with a straight-sets home win.

“We weren’t going for perfect, we were going for a win,” Newkirk said.

“Poland played fantastic but our team came together and we had a few key plays that started us rolling.”

United States won the men's gold at the inaugural Beach ParaVolley Standing World Series event in Pingtan, China ©ParaVolley
United States won the men's gold at the inaugural Beach ParaVolley Standing World Series event in Pingtan, China ©ParaVolley

In the men’s bronze medal match, Poland 2’s Bartolomiej Synoweic, Jacek Molinski and Michal Wypych defeated Slovakia’s Rudolf Makovini, Martin Dubovsky and Juraj Kucej 21-16, 21-15.

Indian trio Datar Deewarata, Abhishek Aluwala and Sahir Ali Mallick finished in fifth place after beating Australia’s Nic Kaiser, Nick Coburn and Bradley Barclay 21-14, 21-17.

China’s women swept the best-of-three series in the women’s tournament with a 21-19, 21-10 win over the United States’ Autum Reagan, Meredith Gross and Skye McDermott.

At the awarding ceremony, Poland 1’s Wasowicz was named best men’s athlete and best overall athlete, while China’s Chen received the best women’s athlete prize.