Australia seals Rio beach volleyball spot

Australia will take at least one beach volleyball team to Rio, after Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy sealed the country's first Olympics quota in the sport.

The duo finished the world ranking qualification period at an Australian-high world No.7, with the top 15 automatically booking tickets to the Copacabana event.

Bawden and Clancy have made strides on the world stage since linking up in late 2012 and peaked at world No.5 last year.

Australia hopes to qualify at least one men's and two women's teams for Brazil, and will have a chance to book further quota spots in Cairns later this month at the Asian Continental Cup.

Among the contenders are 44th-ranked female pair Nikki Laird and Mariafe Artacho del Solar, while the top men's team of Isaac Kapa and Chris McHugh are ranked 25th.