AVC BEACH TOUR 2ND NUVALI OPEN REACHES ITS CRESCENDO WITH TEAMS BATTLING IT OUT IN SINGLE ELIMINATION KNOCKOUT

Powerhouses Australia, Indonesia and Thailand secured all their teams in the round of last 16, as talented James Buytrago/Rancel Varga kept the flag flying for hosts Philippines with their Pool H victory in the “Rebisco” AVC Beach Tour 2nd Nuvali Open at the world-class Nuvali Sand Courts by Ayala Land and PNVF in City of Santa Rosa on Thursday.

With only top two teams from each pool in both men’s and women’s events advancing, teams played their best in the pool play, seeking to go from good to great. However, at the end of the action-packed preliminaries on Thursday, Australia ruled the roost with their three teams on top of the men’s pools. Iran, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand and Philippines also made their mark, having one team apiece to emerge as winners in their respective pools.

Another two teams each from Thailand, Indonesia and Japan and one team apiece from New Zealand and Iran were also progressing following their second-place finish in their pools.

 

Thailand’s 16th seeds Surin Jongklang/Kittituch Khomkham had a mixed fortune on Thursday, outplaying Filipinos Edwin Toentino/Lerry John Francisco 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) in Pool A, but suffered a narrow 1-2 (25-23, 18-21, 13-15) loss to D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse in their afternoon match. The Australia’s top seeds and the 2024 Asian champions topped Pool A as expected, with Surin/Kittituch in second place.

Iran’s 15th seeds Amirali GhalehNovi/Bahman Salemiinjehboroun did not drop a single set in their pool play to top Pool B, downing China’s Mao Yuan/Liu Yuan 2-0 (21-18, 21-7) in the morning clash and continued their winning way in the afternoon match with thrilling 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) victory against Indonesia’s second seeds Bintang Akbar/Sofyan Rachman Efendi, who won the country’s first-ever Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gold last year at the Wuhan Qingshan Futures in China.

Australia’s 14th seeds Ben Hood/Oliver Merritt also proved too much for the challengers in Pool C, producing an epic comeback 2-1 (19-21, 21-13, 16-14) win against China’s Song Jinyang/Zhang Tai in exhausting 43 minutes before pulling off a surprise 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win against Thailand’s third seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, bronze medallists at the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championship in Fuzhou, China, for two wins in a row.

Another Australian pairing, fourth seeds Paul Burnett/Luke Ryan, were unstoppable in Pool D with 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) win against Indonesia’s Danangsyah Pribadi/Yosi Firnando on Thursday. The previous match saw the Aussies capture their first 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) win against Filipinos Ronniel Rosales/Alexander Jhon Iraya.

Pool E was dominated by Japan’s 12th seeds Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Hiroki Dylan Kurokawa, with Thailand’s sixth seeds Dunwinit Kaewsai/Banlue Nakprakhong and New Zealand’s Bradley Fuller/Ben O’Dea, champions at the recent 2025 GJ Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour presented by Tip Top, topping Pool F and Pool G respectively.

Eighth seeds Buytrago/Varga did not let their home fans down with their great performance in Pool H. Fresh from crushing Uzbekistan’s Mustafoev Golibjon/Nodirjon Alekseev 2-0 (21-13, 21-6) on Wednesday, the Philippine duo recovered from the first-set down 19-21 to beat Japanese Nassim Malki/Kosuke Fukushima 21-13, 15-10 in exciting 47 minutes.

In the Friday’s elimination round of last 16, Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato take on Japan’s Hasegawa/Dylan, with Aussies Potts/Pearse playing Indonesians Danang/Yosi. The remaining encounters see Indonesia’s Bintang/Sofyan challenge Kiwis’ Fuller/O’Dea, Japan’s Malki/Fukushima go up against Aussies Burnett/Ryan, Philippines’ Buytrago/Varga face off against Kiwis McManaway/Sadler, Australians Hood/Merritt taking on Iranians A.Aghajani/A.Pourasgari, Japanese Kai Kurokawa/Ryuichi Adachi meeting Iranians GhalehNovi/Salemi B and Dunwinit/Banlue challenge Surin/Kittituch in the all-Thais affair.

In the women’s event, Pools A, B, C and D featured only two teams apiece and as a result, those teams all made the cut for the round of last 16.

Australia’s top two seedings, Jasmine Fleming/Stefani Fejes and Elizabeth Alchin/Georgia Johnson, lived up to their billing, with the former on top of Pool A and the latter victorious in Pool B.

New Zealand’s third seeds Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald and Thailand’s fourth seeds Taravadee. Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn K emerged as winners in respective Pool C and Pool D.

China and Japan dominated the remaining four pools, with Chinese Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli, the 2024 Wuhan Qingshan Futures champions, topping Pool E and compatriots Yu Tong/Jiang Kaiyue on top of Pool H. Japan’s sixth seeds Asami Shiba/Reika Murakami took Pool F and seventh seeds Saki Maruyama/Miki Ishii emerged as Pool G winners.

Also advancing as second place from each pool were hosts Philippines (three teams from Pools A, B and H), Thailand (two teams from Pools E and G) and one team apiece from Japan (Pool D), Hong Kong China (Pool C) and Australia (Pool F).

In the Friday’s round of last 16, Australia’s Fleming/Fejes will play To Wing Tung/To Wing Man from Hong Kong, China, with Japan’s Riko Tsujimura/Takemi Nishibori taking on China’s Yu Tong/Jiang Kaiyue.

Home fans will have something to cheer about when Filipinas Sunnie Kalani Villapando/Jenny Gaviola will challenge Japan’s Shiba/Reika, while Filipinas Alexa Polidario/Lorien Ysobel Gamboa going up against Japan’s Maruyama/Ishii and Filipinas Khylem Hall Progella/Sofiah Shanine Pagara taking on Chinese Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli.

The other round of last 16 matches see Thailand’s Naraphormrapat/Worapeerachayakorn go up against Australians Tara Phillips/Lara Maric, Kiwis Polley/MacDonald facing Thailand’s Tanarattha Ucomchavee/Rumpaipruet Numwong and Australians Alchin/Johnson, bronze medallists at the last week’s World Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta to their name, in action against Thailand’s Samitta Simarongnam/Salinda Mungkhon.

Following the knockout round of last 16 on Friday, the eight winning teams in both men’s and women’s events will next strut their stuff in the afternoon quarterfinals on the same day.

A total of 24 men’s teams and 20 women’s pairings from Australia, China, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and Uzbekistan are competing in the topflight four-day event, fighting it out for the eventual men’s and women’s titles, cash prizes and AVC’s accumulated points.

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