Australians Stefanie Fejes/Jana Milutinovic and Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato are regarded as the strongest women’s and men’s contenders among 45 teams strutting their stuff in the Smart AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open, which is ready to kick off at the world-class Nuvali Sand Courts by Ayala Land in the City of Santa Rosa, the Philippines on Thursday, April 4.
The General Technical Meeting took place at Velvet Room in Seda Nuvali Hotel on Wednesday, with Mr Donaldo Caringal, Secretary General of Philippine National Volleyball Federation, presiding.
Donaldo Caringal
Antonio Carlos Jr
Also in attendance were Technical Delegate Mr Thomas Chang from Hong Kong, China, Referee Delegate Mr Srinivasan Jayaraman from India and Event Operations Manager Mr Antonio Carlos Jr.
Thomas Chang, left, and Srinivasan Jayaraman
All participating teams from 13 countries consisting of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Macao China, Singapore, China, Iran and Malaysia attended the meeting which was held to finally confirm the competition, refereeing, medical and other related matters set for the action-packed four-day event.
Split into eight pools from A to H in the men’s and women’s Main Draw, teams will first compete in the round-robin pool preliminaries, followed by a single elimination competitions (round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals).
Fejes and Milutinovic are top seeds and are favorites in the women’s event. After winning the World Beach Pro Tour Futures tournament in Coolangatta this time last year, the Australian duo have won six tournaments in a row this summer including the back-to-back BPT Futures Coolangatta, Beach Pro Tour Futures Mollymook and the Mahindra Australian Beach Volleyball Championships, all in March, and Pacific Games for Australia late last year.
Fejes/Milutinovic will play in Pool A against 16th-seeds THA3’s Rumpaipruet Numwong/Veeradakittikarn Wirakornkhayatimat. Pool B comprises second-seeds AUS2’s Jasmine Fleming/Georgia Johnson, bronze medallists at BTP Futures Mollymook in March, and NZL2’s Katie Sadlier/Meile-Rose Green.
Third-seeds Asami Shiba/Maruyama of JPN1 are in Pool C with INA and KAZ2, while fourth-seeds Suzuka Hashimoto/Reika Murakami of JPN2, who took silver at BPT Futures Mollymook and bronze at BPT Futures Coolangatta, will compete in Pool D against THA2 and SGP1.
Fifth seeds Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert/Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn are in Pool E with HKG1 and MAC, while Pool F comprises NZL1’s Olivia Macdonald/Danielle Quigley, HKG2 and MAS. AUS3’s Tara Phillips/Elizabeth Alchin are in Pool G against JPN3 and PHI2, with PHI1’s Genesa Jane Eslapor/Mary Klymence Orillaneda in Pool H against KAZ1 and SGP2.
In the men’s event, Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato seem the strongest to be reckoned with in the Nuvali Open. The 25-year-old Pithak and 23-year-old Poravid achieved a remarkable feat by earning bronze medals at the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships in Fuzhou, China, the Thailand’s first men’s podium finish in the continental competition since 2013 and only the third in its history.
The Thai pair had already claimed their first BPT medal, a Subic Bay Futures gold in the Philippines, and backed it up with silver at their next appearance on the Tour, at the last year’s Coolangatta Futures in Australia in March and April. After that, they took silver at last April’s AVC Beach Tour stop on home soil in Samila. The top-seeds Thais have an easy draw in Pool A against HKG’s Wong Puilam/Lau Cheukyin.
A huge challenge against the Thais in this four-day event can be expected from second-seeds Paul Burnett/Jack Pearse of AUS1, who claimed silver at BPT season-opener in Mollymook and BPT Futures Coolangatta last month. Burnett and Pearse are in Pool B with INA2’s Bintang Akbar/Sofyan Efendi and NZL’s Juraj Krajci/James Sadlier.
Meanwhile, third seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai of THA2 will compete in Pool C against INA1 and MAS, while Pool D consists of fourth-seeds AUS2’s Potts D’Artagnan, JPN3 and PHI2. Fifth-seeds CHN’s Li Zhouxin/Liu Chuanyong are in Pool E with KAZ2 and SGP, with JPN1’s Yusuke Ishijima/Kensuke Shoji, IRI1 and MAC in Pool F.
Seventh-seeds KAZ1’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu are in Pool G against THA3 and IRI2, while eighth-seeds PHI1’s James Buytrago/Rancel Varga, JPN2 and INA3 are in Pool H.
On Thursday, matches start at 8am and according to the organisers, there will be no match in between noon and 2pm when the sun is at its hottest. Temperatures in the four-day event could reach at high 30s at the courts, with medical teams well-equipped for heat-related incidents.
MATCH SCHEDULE
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