Roi Et, Thailand, May 4, 2024 – Thailand are assured of securing one spot in the women’s showdown to move a step closer to their title defence in the 5th Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships at Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School Courts here on Sunday, as teams from four different federations including reigning champions Thailand advanced to the men’s semifinals.
At the previous edition of the Asian U19 Championships here in Roi Et two years ago, hosts Thailand swept both men’s and women’s titles, with their women’s teams sweeping the 1-2-3 podium.
In the women’s semifinals on Sunday morning, top seeds Varagkhana Sogalee/Somruedee Koedkaew, who captured the women’s title at the last week’s South East Asian (SAVA) U19 Championships at the same venue here, and the 21st seeds Piyathida Onlaoo/Orathai Sembut, both of them remain unbeaten, will fight it out in the all-Thais affair, resulting in one local pair to enter the afternoon showdown. The other semifinal clash sees Australia’s second seeds Jasmine Rayner/Cameron Zajer challenge Chinese 16th seeds Qi Siyu/Lei Yijing.
In the men’s event, Lebanese 17th seeds Hadi El Chabib/Jad Abi Karam will face off against Thailand’s 18th seeds Rueangrit Wiromrat/Suranath Ratanapolsaen in the Sunday morning’s semifinal match, with Iranian third seeds Amir Ali GhalehNovi/Kashan Habib Akbarzadeh taking on Australia’s second seeds Killian Donovan/Jett Rocker-Graham in the other semifinal clash.
As the five-day championships reach crescendo on Sunday, with strong teams advancing to the morning semifinals, AVC has already confirmed the five National Federations qualified for the main draw of the U19 World Championships, set to be held in Shangluo, China between August 27 and September 1, 2024.
Though not yet in order, the five women’s teams qualified comprise Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Kazakhstan, while the five teams qualified in the men’s event for the Main Draw of the U19 World Championships in Shangluo consist of Lebanon, Thailand, Iran, Australia and the winning team between New Zealand and Malaysia in the playoff match for the world meet on Sunday morning.
At the same time, AVC also announced another four teams apiece in the men’s and women’s events qualified for the Qualification Tournament of the U19 World Championships in Shangluo, China.
The women’s four teams qualified for the Qualification Tournament of the world meet are Indonesia, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong China, with Vietnam in the reserve list. In the men’s event, the four teams qualified for the Qualification Tournament of the U19 World Championships comprise the losers between New Zealand and Malaysia, Kazakhstan/Singapore, Singapore/Kazakhstan and the winning team between Hong Kong China and Indonesia. The losers between Hong Kong China and Indonesia will be in the reserve list.
All three playoff matches for U19 World Championships quotas will take place Sunday morning. Please see details of matchups below (yellow highlight playoff matches).
Meanwhile, only four women’s matches were contested in the Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Thailand’s top seeds Varagkhana Sogalee/Somruedee Koedkaew fought back from the first set down to Japan’s 13th seeds Mei Mori/Noa Utsugi, whom they had already beaten 2-0 in the pool play, to win 2-1 (19-21, 21-9, 15-9) in 52 minutes.
Another Thai pair, Piyathida Onlaoo/Orathai Sembut, pulled off convincing 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) win against China’s seventh seeds Wang Jiaying/Zhang Jiabei.
Chinese Qi Siyu/Lei Yijing beat Thailand’s Inthira Bunpasong/Suchipha Rittila with tie-break win 17-21, 21-17, 15-8 in exhausting 61 minutes, while Australians Jasmine Rayner/Cameron Zajer demolished Malaysians Qariesya Nur Azwa/Shamsulrizal Nur Auni 2-0 (21-12, 22-20).
In the men’s event, teams strutted their stuffs in the Saturday morning’s round of 16 clashes, with eight winning teams through to the afternoon quarterfinals.
Lebanese Hadi El Chabib/Jad Abi Karam, who earlier stunned Thailand’s top seeds Big Manyahong/Aphichat Thonghin in the pool play, repeatedly beat the same rivals 2-0 (21-14, 21-10 forfeit of the Thai team) in the Saturday’s quarterfinals, while local hopefuls Rueangrit Wiromrat/Suranath Ratanapolsaen cruised past Chinese Liu Yuan/Xu Minyue 2-0 (21-16, 21-19).
Iranians Amir Ali GhalehNovi/Kashani Habib Akbarzadeh brushed off Kiwis Davi Pacheco/Thomas Vesty in a totally lopsided battle 21-10, 21-7 in 29 minutes and Australians Killian Donovan/Jett Rocker-Graham advanced to the semifinals after 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) demolition of Malaysians Adam Adnan Muhammad/Jengyih Low.
RESULTS
MEN
WOMEN
MATCH SCHEDULE
MEN
WOMEN
FINAL RANKING
MEN
WOMEN
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