Santa Rosa, Philippines, November 7, 2024 – All Australian teams advanced to Round of 16 of the action-packed Day 2 of the 2024 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships at Nuvali Sand Courts on Thursday, as Thailand’s fourth seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato and Vanuatu’s ninth seeds Sherysyn Toko/Majabelle Lawac bowed out of the double-gender competition.
The pool round-robin preliminaries of men’s and women’s events came to a close on Thursday, with only top three teams from each pool securing their places in Round of 18 and Round of 16.
In the men’s competition, Iran’s 12th seeds Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab, Australia’s second seeds Thomas Hodges/Zachery Schubert, Australia’s third seeds D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse, Indonesia’s eighth seeds Bintang Akbar/Efendi Sofyan Rachman and Thailand’s seventh seeds Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha made a clean sweep with three matches in a row to top Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, Pool E and Pool F respectively. Pool D was dominated by Australia’s 16th seeds Joshua Howat/Luke Ryan, who claimed two wins against one loss.
Among those who did not make the cut for Round of 18 were Thailand’s fourth seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, who picked up bronze medal at the previous edition last year in Fuzhou, China and gold medallists at the AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open in Chinese Taipei early this year.
Pithak and Poravid lost all matches in Pool D. After going down 1-2 to Kazakhstan’s qualifiers Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu on Wednesday, the Thai duo succumbed to two losses in a row on Thursday. They lost 21-23, 14-21 to Australians Joshua Howat/Luke Ryan.
The Thais faced the similar fate in the day’s second encounter against Takahashi Takumi/Ikeda Jumpei, going down 18-21, 17-21 to the Japanese tandem to eventually crash out of the competition.
Australia’s top seeds and 2024 Mollymook Futures champions Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher, fresh from 2-0 demolition of China’s Song Jinyang/Zhang Tai on Wednesday, had mixed fortunes in Pool A on Thursday, beating Japanese Malki Nassim/Kosuke Fukushima 21-16, 16-21, 15-6 in the day’s first match.
The Australian duo, however, lost 22-24, 18-21 in a well-fought battle against Iranians Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab in their second encounter.
In Pool B, Aussies D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse, who demolished Iranian qualifiers Salemiinjehboroun Bahman/Khakizadeh Abolhassan 2-0 on Wednesday, remained in exceptional form to snatch both matches on Thursday, shutting out Thailand’s Surin Jongklang/Kittituch Khomkham 21-17, 21-19.
The Aussies later brushed off Kiwis Juraj Krajci/John McManaway 21-16, 21-17 to end their first round campaign without losing a set to their respective opponents.
Thailand’s Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha also made their mark in the preliminaries to finish unbeaten without dropping a set in Pool F. After 2-0 victory against Japanese Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Dylan Hiroki Kurokawa on Wednesday, the Thai pairing continued their remarkable run on Thursday to beat Kiwis Alani Nicklin/Thomas Hartles 21-19, 23-21 and received a walkover in their second match because their opponents from hosts Philippines, Abdilla Alnakran/James Buytrago, sustained an injury.
In-form Akbar Bintang/Efendi Sofyan Rachman were also unstoppable in Pool E. The Indonesian duo powered past Iranians GhalehNovi AmirAli/AkbarzadehKashani Habib 2-0 on Wednesday and proved well they are a strong team to be reckoned with in the championships as they defeated Omanis Mazin Alhashmi/Al Jalaboubi Hood 21-17, 21-17.
The Indonesians later pulled off a stunning comeback 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-8) victory against Chinese veterans Wu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang, who claimed three consecutive gold medals on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures in 2023 comprising Sohar in Oman, Mount Maunganui in New Zealand and Coolangatta Futures in Australia.
In the men’s Round of 18 on Friday, Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Dylan Hiroki Kurokawa will battle it out with Malki Nassim/Kosuke Fukushima in the all-Japanese affair, with Thailand’s Surin Jongklang/Kittituch Khomkham going up against Iranians GhalehNovi AmirAli/AkbarzadehKashani Habib.
Meanwhile, the women’s event saw Vanuatu’s Sherysyn Toko/Majabelle Lawac, who won the Division One Final of the Australia Beach Volleyball Tour in 2023, become the first team with highest seeding to bid farewell to the championship in Philippines.
Tournament ninth seeds Toko/Lawac lost 1-2 in their opening match against Thailand’s Salinda Mungkhon/Somruedee Koedkaew in Pool D on Wednesday. The Vanuatu’s duo tried hard to make a comeback on Thursday, but still found it an impossible mission as they were easily beaten 8-21, 14-21 by Japanese Ren Matsumoto/Non Matsumoto and lost another comfortable match, 10-21, 17-21, to China’s fourth seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin.
China’s top seeds Wang Jingzhe/Xia Xinyi, Australia’s second seeds Jana Milutinovic/Stefanie Fejes, Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert, China’s fourth seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin and Japan’s seventh seeds Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama captured the top spot in respective Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, Pool D and Pool F, all of them without dropping a single set. Australia’s eighth seeds Jasmine Fleming/Elizabeth Alchin topped Pool E with two wins against one loss.
On Friday, Japan’s Kana Motomura/Nayu Motomura will take on Filipinas Eslapor Genesa Jane/Orillaneda Mary Klymince and Kazakhstan’s Laura Kabulbekova/Nadezhda Ivanchenko will fight it out against Thailand’s Salinda Mungkhon/Somruedee Koedkaew in Round of 18.
The other highlights in women’s Round of 16 on Friday can be expected from much-anticipated matches between Alisha Stevens/Cameron Zajer and Jasmine Fleming/Elizabeth Alchin in the all-Australians battle, Thailand’s Tanarattha Udomchavee/Rumpaipruet Numwong against China’s Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli, China’s Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin against Philippines’ Progella Khylem Harl/Pagara Sofiah Shanine and Indonesia’s Desi Ratnassari/Nur Sari Atika against Japan’s Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama.
MATCH RESULTS
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POOL RANKINGS
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MATCH SCHEDULE
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