Roi Et, Thailand, May 1, 2024 – Stronger and more cohesive teams braved a scorching Wednesday to kick off their campaigns in the 5th Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships with well-deserved victories on pulsating Day 1 at Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School Courts here, as participating players from 17 National Federations including joined the opening ceremony in the afternoon.
Young talents from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong China, Kazakhstan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Iran, Qatar, Oman, Singapore, Maldives, Lebanon and hosts Thailand are now participating in the five-day competition, which serve as the qualification tournament for the 2024 FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in Shangluo, China between August 27 to September 1. Only best five Federations in Roi Et will secure their berths in main draw of the world meet, with another four Federations contesting qualifying rounds.
It was a very hot day in Roi Et with scattered clouds on Wednesday and the temperature was a sweltering 42 degrees Celsius. However, the hot weather could not dampen participating players’ enthusiasm and spirit to give their utmost for the possible best performance in the three-day pool play.
In the men’s event, two teams apiece from Australia, China, Singapore and New Zealand successfully cleared the first hurdle in their respective pools. Australia’s second seeds Killian Donovan/Jett Rocker-Graham beat Lebanese pair of Bassam Kouzaiha/Anthony Jehi 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) in Pool B.
The 19th seeds Finley Bennett/Adam Fejes bounced back to beat Vietnam’s 14th seeds Nguyen Hoang Long/Danh Chanh Sa May, fresh from picking up silver at the last week’s South East Asian U19 Championships (SAVA U19) at the same venue here, with epic tiebreak win 21-23, 21-14, 20-18 in Pool C.
Australians Donovan/Rocker-Graham will next take on hosts Thailand’s hopefuls and 18th seeds Rueangrit Wiromrat/Suranath Ratanapolsaen, who captured gold medal at the last week’s South East Asian U19 Championships, on Thursday, with Bennett/Adam challenging Iranian third seeds Amir Ali Ghalehnovi/Kashani Habib Akbarzadeh, who powered past Thailand’s Supanai Uthaijaeng/Tanawat Wansungnoen 2-0 (21-11, 21-15).
China’s fourth seeds Song Jinyang/Sun Zhihao also tasted their first win in the biennial championships following their 2-0 (21-10, 21-17) rout of Vietnamese Ho Quang Huy/Nguyen Van Linh in Pool D, while teammates and 21st seeds Liu Yuan/Xu Minyue demolished Malaysians Adam Adnan Muhammad/Low Jengyih 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) in Pool E.
The 13th seeds Sasikumar Ranjiv/Eng Chengfeng Renfred made Singapore proud with a stunning 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) win against Iranians Mohammad Rasool Bastegani/Kiarash Bagheri in Pool D, while compatriots and 28th seeds Ngoh Caleb/Soon Weisheng Daniel also pulled off a surprise 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) win against Japan’s fifth seeds Kiichi Inagaki/Masato Yamashita in Pool E.
Both Kiwi pairs emerged triumphant on Wednesday, with 23rd seeds Davi Pacheco/Thomas Vesty defeating Hong Kong China’s Li Chiho/Chiu Hochi 2-0 (21-15, 26-24) in Pool G and eighth seeds Nathan Davies/Liam Smith trouncing another Hong Kong China’s pair, Wong Hoyiu/Li Hoifung, 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) in Pool H.
Japan, Thailand and Iran had mixed fortunes on the opening day, with one team apiece from the three nations falling victim to the stronger rivals.
Thailand’s top seeds Big Manyahong/Aphichat Thonghin, who finished a disappointing fourth position in the SAVA U19 Championships last week, mercilessly crushed Maldivians All Ali Abudlla/Hassan Mohamed Lujaz 21-1, 21-4 in 19 minutes in Pool A. Teammates Rueangrit/Suranath did likewise as the 18th seeds overwhelmed Maldivians Ismail Rasheed Mohamed Ikuram/Raki Hassan Ibrahim 2-0 (21-2, 21-4) in 21 minutes in Pool B. Only Supanai/Tanawat failed to make their mark with 0-2 loss to Iranians Ghalehnovi/Akbarzadeh in Pool C.
In the women’s event, three home teams made strong starts with exceptional wins. Top seeds Varagkhana Sogalee/Somruedee Koedkaew, gold medallists at the last week’s SAVA U19 Championships, lived up to all expectations with 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) win against Japanese 13th seeds Mei Mori/Noa Ulsugi in Pool A.
The 14th seeds Inthira Bunpasong/Suchipha Rittila, silver medallists at the SAVA U19 Championships, outplayed Chinese Taipei’s 11th seeds Hsu Chianing/Chuang Hsintung 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) in Pool B and continued their outstanding performance to beat Australia’s Jasmine Rayner/Cameron Zajer 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-12) for consecutive two wins.
The 21st seeds Piyathida Onlaoo/Orathai Sembut downed Kiwi fourth seeds Emma Mason/Kaia Buckley 2-0 (21-13, 21-10) in Pool D.
Another Kiwi pair, 15th seeds Lee Morgan/Devyn Golaboski, suffered two losses in a row on Wednesday in Pool C. They first went down to Malaysians Nur Azwa Qariesya/Nur Auni Shamsulrizal 0-2 (9-21, 10-21) and later lost 0-2 (11-21, 23-25) to Japan’s third seeds Niko Morikawa/Waka Yada.
Japan’s Mori/Utsugi had already beaten Australia’s 12th seeds Lara Maric/Mireille Smith with a comeback 2-1 (16-21, 21-12, 15-11) win in Pool A before going down to Thai top seeds Varagkhana/Somruedee in their second encounter.
China’s 16th seeds Qi Siyu/Lei Yijing in Pool D and seventh seeds Wang Jiaying/Zhang Jiabei in Pool F had an easy day, with the former crushing Vietnamese Huynh Diem Cat Linh/Thach Thi Phuc 2-0 (21-9, 21-12) in 29 minutes and the latter beating Hong Kong China’s Sylvia Siyang Liang/Fong Heiching 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) in 38 minutes.
Indonesian eighth seeds Arifin Alifa Zahwa/Saputri Mido Maya, fourth place at the SAVA U19 Championships, survived a huge scare from Yekaterina Ryukhova/Gayana Galash to stun the Kazakh 17th seeds 2-1 (14-21, 21-18, 16-14) in exhausting 50 minutes in Pool E.
The opening ceremony of the five-day meet took place on Wednesday at the competition venue within Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School, with Roi Et Governor Mr Songpol Jai-krim presiding to deliver welcome speech to all participants and Roi Et Mayor Mr Banjong Kositjiranan reporting on the championships in terms of participating teams and other competition matters.
Participating teams from 17 countries also joined the ceremony, marching joyously behind flag bearers. After the speeches, a traditional dance was beautifully performed which received a big round of applause.
Teams continue their pool play on Thursday and Friday in the 5th edition of the Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships.Round of 16 will also take place on Friday, May 3, with the quarterfinals being organized the following day. Semifinals and finals in both men’s and women’s events will be held on May 5.
RESULTS
MEN
WOMEN
POOLS
MEN
WOMEN
MATCH SCHEDULE
MEN
WOMEN
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