Twitter raged about Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil being robbed in the women’s beach volleyball quarterfinals after a controversial challenge to a challenge.
The dynamic duo of Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes were knocked out in the round of 16 of the 2021 Olympics beach volleyball tournament.
The Americans lost to Canadian pair Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson in an upset. Sponcil and Claes ranked No. 3 in the world. Bansley and Wilkerson ranked No. 16.
Was it a fair result? Twitter doesn’t think so.
In the third set, with Canada leading 12-11, Sponcil’s serve was called out. Sponcil and Claes challenged the ruling and the officials reversed it on replay review.
That’s when things got weird. Canada challenged the challenge and the referees reversed the reversal. Sponcil and Claes went on to lose the third set and the match.
No one understands the review in Sponcil and Claes’ beach volleyball loss
Twitter was irate, throwing around the word “ROBBED” with abandon.
Confusion largely stemmed from how the challenges were handled. It just didn’t make any sense.
The rulebook doesn’t seem to allow for what happened.
Unfortunately for Claes and Sponcil, there doesn’t seem to be any recourse. They’re out of the Olympics just like that.
Sponcil is 24 years old and Claes is 25, so they likely will have more Olympic opportunities down the line. That won’t make this result any less devastating for the two.