Zhongwei, Ningxia, China, August 27, 2019 – Hosts China brushed off Hong Kong China on Tuesday to set up final men’s and women’s showdowns with Japan at the double-gender AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Phase 1 Eastern Zone.
Hong Kong China, fresh from beating Korea 2-0, went up against powerhouses China in the first semi-final encounter, while the other semi-final clash saw Chinese Taipei face Japan in the men’s event. It was also the similar script in the women’s competition with China taking on Hong Kong China and Japan challenging Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.
In the action-packed women’s event, China 1’s Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi, who had captured gold medal at the last year’s Asian Games in Palembang, Indonesia aside from emerging as the champions at this year’s Samila Open Asian Tour in Songkhla, Thailand, spent 31 minutes in outplaying Hong Kong China 1’s Wai Yan Au Yeung/Koo Yung Yung 21-11 21-17, while Wang Xinxin/Xue Chen ended the Hong Kong China’s entire challenge as the China 2’s pairing pulled off a comfortable straight-set 21-14 21-7 win against Hong Kong China 2’s Lo Wai Yan/Ng Wing Laam in a 28-minute encounter.
Japan also made their mark in the Tuesday’s semi-finals against Chinese Taipei following a scintillating 2-0 win against the lower-ranked rivals. Japan 1’s Miki Ishii/Sayaka Mizoe had a little problems in ousting Chinese Taipei 1’s Kou Nai-Han/Liu Pi-Hsin, winners at this year’s Satun Open one-star in Thailand, 21-15 21-13, but Japan 2’s Nishibori Take/Ayumi Kusano struggled to beat Chinese Taipei 2’s Yu Ya-Hsuan/Pan Tzu-Yi 21-17 21-19 in 38 minutes.
On Wednesday, Japan will go up against China in the women’s showdown, with Ishii/Mizoe taking on Wang/Xia and Take/Kusano challenging Wang/Xue.
Meanwhile, in the men’s semi-finals, Hong Kong China, which stormed past Korea 2-0 in their first round, found China too strong to go down 0-2.
Hong Kong China 1’s Wong Kwun Pong/Wong Yeung suffered a disappointing 0-2 (10-21 9-21) loss to much stronger China 1’s Gao Peng/Li Yang in just 24 minutes. The Chinese duo also claimed gold medal at the Samila Open Asian Tour in Thailand, but picked up silver medal at the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships.
China 2’s Wu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang also enjoyed a comfortable match against Hong Kong China 2’s Chui Kam Lung/Yeung Pok Man to win 21-14 21-10 in 29 minutes.
In the other semi-final clash, Japan fought hard against Chinese Taipei to edge past the tough rivals in close 2-0 battle.
Japan 1’s Takumi Takahashi/Yoshiumi Hasegawa defeated Chinese Taipei 1’s Wang Chin-Ju/Hsieh Ya-Jen 21-19 21-15, while Japan 2’s Ishijima Gottsu/Katsuhira Shiratori survived a scare from Hsu Chen-Wei/Wu Shin-Shian to rally past the fighting tandem in hard-fought three-set thriller 21-17 19-21 15-13 in exhausting 49 minutes.
Japan will strut their stuff against China in the men’s final clash on Wednesday, with Gao Peng/Li Yang taking on Takahashi/Hasegawa and Wu Jiaxia/Ha Likejiang challenging Gottsu/Shiratori.
The AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Phase 1 Eastern Zone kicked off on Monday, with five federations, China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Hong Kong China competing in a federation v federation to vie for the top honour and the lone ticket to the Final Phase in both men’s and women’s event.
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