Roi Et, Thailand, June 21, 2025 – China demonstrated exceptional prowess to secure places in both the men’s and women’s finals of the 6th Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships at Nong Ya Ma Community School, with third seeds Liu Yuan/Mao Yuan set to take on Kazakhstan’s Klim Ryukhov/Vladislav Mastikhin in the men’s showdown and second-seeded Jiang Kaiyue/Zhou Mingli facing Thailand’s top seeds Samitta Simarongnam/Varagkhana Sogalee in the women’s title decider.
With the finalists confirmed on Saturday, it has been established that defending champions Australia will relinquish both their men’s and women’s titles claimed at the previous edition two years ago, also held here in Roi Et.
In the men’s competition, Liu Yuan, 17, and Mao Yuan, 19, both from Sichuan, extended their remarkable unbeaten run, not dropping a single set throughout the tournament. The Chinese duo, who finished ninth at last month’s Beach Pro Tour Qingshan Futures on home soil and 17th at the Songkhla Futures in Thailand in April, produced a dominant performance in Saturday’s quarterfinals, thrashing Thailand’s Supanai Uthaijaeng/Chaloemde Bunrot 2-0 (21-7, 21-11) in just 29 minutes.
Later in the semifinals, they continued their imperious form, dispatching Australia’s second seeds Finley Bennett and Benjamin Carroll 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) to advance to the Sunday’s final.
Awaiting them in the gold-medal match are Ryukhov and Mastikhin of Kazakhstan, who battled through two exhausting matches on Saturday.
The Kazakh duo survived a marathon 94-minute quarterfinal, edging China’s Zhang Tai and Song Jinyang 2-0 (29-27, 32-30), before coming from a set down to outlast Thailand’s top seeds Wichaya Wisetkan and Paphawin Manyahong 2-1 (18-21, 21-11, 16-14) in the semifinals.
Wichaya and Paphawin, fresh off their gold-medal triumph at last week’s SAVA U21 Championships at the same venue here, will now contest the bronze-medal match against Australians Bennett and Carroll.
In the women’s event, China’s Jiang Kaiyue and Zhou Mingli, both 20, also proved unstoppable.
After finishing ninth at the Beach Pro Tour Qingdao Futures on their home soil on June 15, they defeated compatriots Fan Yuhan and Dong Jindi 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) in Saturday’s all-Chinese quarterfinals before overcoming Japan’s Mei Mori and Noa Utsugi 2-0 (21-8, 21-17) in the semifinals to secure their place in the final.
Standing between Jiang and Zhou and the women’s title are Thailand’s in-form pairing of Samitta Simarongnam and Varagkhana Sogalee, who captured the SAVA U21 Championship crown last week here.
The top-seeded Thai duo ousted compatriots Somruedee Koedkaew and Suchipha Rittila 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) in an all-Thai quarterfinal, before edging past New Zealand’s Kiana Stevenson and Tineke Hinton 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) in a hard-fought semifinal encounter.
As the stage is set for the highly-anticipated men’s and women’s finals on Sunday, Stevenson and Hinton of New Zealand will battle Japan’s Mori and Utsugi for the women’s bronze medal.
Following the conclusion of both finals, the awards presentation and official closing ceremony will take place to mark the end of the five-day championships.
The 6th Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships serve as a qualification event for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships, scheduled for October 15–19, 2025, in Puebla, Mexico. The top five federations from Roi Et will earn direct qualification for the main draw, while four others will advance to the World Championships Qualification Tournament.
MATCH RESULTS
MEN
WOMEN
MATCH SCHEDULE
MEN
WOMEN
FINAL RANKINGS
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WOMEN
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