Songkhla, Thailand, April 14, 2025 – All teams from Thailand, Australia, Japan and New Zealand cruised through to the men’s and women’s round of last 16 of the AVC Beach Tour 24th Samila Open, as Qatar’s top seeds and current FIVB World No.12 Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan ended their pool play campaign on a high note.
With only top two teams from each pool in both men’s and women’s events progressing to the much-anticipated round of 16, teams showcased their skills, collaboration teamwork and determination on Monday, hoping to make it a truly memorable success in the pool play and strive for their berths in the more challenging next round.
In the women’s event, the tournament’s top 15 seedings all qualified for the round of 16, while Philippines’ 18th seeds Sunnie Kalani Villapando/Jenny Gaviola filled the remaining vacancy as a second-place finish in Pool B. The Filipinas will next be pitted against New Zealand’s 15th seeds Danielle Quigley/Meile Rose Green on Tuesday.
Thailand’s fourth seeds Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee, who secured gold medal at the 2021 Asian Championships on home soil in Phuket and silver medal at the 2023 Asian Championships in Fuzhou, China, remained unchallenged following their comfortable 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) victory against Australia’s 14th seeds Tara Phillips/Lara Maric.
In the Tuesday’s round of 16, the Pool A winners Thai duo will face off against Kazakhstan’s 12th seeds Laura Kabulbekova/Nadezhda Ivanchenko, who succumbed to 0-2 (13-21, 17-21) loss to Japan’s sixth seeds Asami Shiba/Reika Murakami in their last Pool F match.
Shiba/Reika will next go up against 11th seeds Ren Matsumoto/Non Matsumoto, who claimed silver at the concluded Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Samila 2025 here a few days ago, in the all-Japanese clash.
The other three teams of Thailand have also qualified to the round of 16, with ninth seeds Salinda Mungkhon/Samitta Simarongnam challenging China’s fifth seeds Yan Xu/Zhou Mingly, who captured gold at the 2024 Wuhan Qingshan Futures.
Thailand’s 10th seeds Patcharaporn Seehawong/Somruedee Koedkaew will next go up against New Zealand’s third seeds Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald, who claimed gold at this year’s GJ Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour and additional silver at the last Monday’s AVC Beach Tour 2nd Nuvali Open in Philippines,
Another Thai pairing, 13th seeds Tanarattha Udomchavee/Rumpaipruet Numwong, will take on China’s eighth seeds Yu Tong/Jiang Kaiyue.
Australia’s top seeds Stefanie Fejes/Jasmine Fleming, second seeds Elizabeth Alchin/Georgia Johnson and 14th seeds Tara Phillips/Lara Maric also secured their berths in the round of 16, with Fejes/Fleming and Phillips/Maric setting up an all-Australian affair.
Fejes, 21, and Fleming, 22, set their sights on winning back-to-back AVC Beach Tour titles here in the 24th Samila Open following their successful outing at the last week’s 2nd Nuvali Open in Philippines. The Aussies played their first two tournaments together in Thailand – the 2020 Asian Championship in Udon Thani and the 2021 edition in Phuket, respectively finishing 17th and fifth overall. They revisited Thailand in July 2023, taking the Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championship title in Roi Et.
Alchin/Johnson, who picked up bronze at the 2025 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta and additional bronze at the last week’s AVC Beach Tour 2nd Nuvali Open, will fight it out with Japan’s seventh seeds Saki Maruyama/Miki Ishii in the Tuesday’s round of 16.
Meanwhile, after completion of the men’s pool play on Monday, top 14 seedings survived unscathed. Iran’s 15th seeds AmirAli GhalehNovi/Bahman Salemiinjehboroun, who finished fourth place at the 2nd Nuvali Open, suffered two losses in Pool B to finish third in the pool and unfortunately failed to make the cut for the round of 16.
Two teams from China also could not go the distance. Mao Yuan/Liu Yuan in Pool A and Song Jinyang/Zhang Tai in Pool D lost twice in their pools, resulting in the similar third-place finish to eventually end their dream journey in the four-day event.
Thailand had all three teams advancing in the men’s event, while two teams apiece from Kazakhstan, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Indonesia made their mark to secure their berths in the round of 16.
Thailand’s fifth seeds Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha registered two wins on Monday for a clean sweep in Pool A.
They will next go up against New Zealand’s eighth seeds Bradley Fuller/Ben O’Dea, who claimed gold at the recent Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta, in the Tuesday’s round of 16.
Another Thai tandem, sixth seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, who sealed victory at the last year’s AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open in Chinese Taipei, will face a daunting task in round of 16 when the local hopefuls will fight it out with third seeds Bintang Akbar/Sofyan Rachman Efendi on Tuesday.
The Indonesians won the country’s first-ever Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gold at the last year’s Wuhan Qingshan Futures in China.
Seventh seeds Dunwinit Kaewsai/Banlue Nakprakhong from Thailand, who took bronze at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Samila 2025 a few days ago, will set up a tough clash against New Zealand’s 13th seeds John McManaway/James Sadlier.
Australia’s second seeds and defending Asian champions D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse did not drop a set in topping Pool C and will now meet Philippines’ 12 seeds James Buytrago/Rancel Varga, second place in Pool E, in the Tuesday’s round of 16.
Another Australian duo, fourth seeds Paul Burnett/Luke Ryan, who have eyed the AVC Beach Tour title for two in a row here at the 24th Samila Open after winning their first gold at the last Monday’s 2nd Nuvali Open in Philippines, will next challenge Japan’s 11th seeds Kai Kurokawa/Ryuichi Adachi on Tuesday,
Japanese Takumi Takahashi/Jumpei Ikeda will play Kazakhs Dmitriy Yakovlev/Abdulmajid Mohammad.
Iran’s Alireza Aghajanighasab/Abbas Pourasgari, who took home silver medal at the last year’s 23rd Samila Open here, have something to prove as the ninth seeds set up a clash with Kazakhs Sergey Bogatu/Kirill Gurin.
Qatar’s top seeds Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan, who claimed gold medal at the GCC Beach Games Muscat 2025 on April 10 and handed the country the first-ever Olympic medal in beach volleyball after taking bronze at the Tokyo 2022 Olympic Games, will take on Indonesia’s 14th seeds Danangsyah Pribadi/Firnanda Yosi on Tuesday.
The Qatari pair tasted the Monday’s first match victory against Kazakhs Bogatu/Gurin 2-0 (21-11, 26-24) in exhausting 47 minutes and remained in their brilliant performance following their sensational 2-0 (21-13, 21-9) win against AmirAli GhalehNovi/Bahman Salemiinjehboroun, relegating the Iranian opponents to the third spot in Pool B and knocking them out of the competition.
The round of 16 will be organised on Tuesday morning in both men’s and women’s events, with the quarterfinals being arranged later in the afternoon. Semifinals and finals will be held on April 16, with the awards presentation and closing ceremony taking place shortly after completion of the final men’s and women’s showdowns.
RESULTS
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POOLS
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MATCH SCHEDULE
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FINAL RANKINGS
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