Pingtan, China, May 9, 2025 – Australia, Thailand, Japan and hosts China ruled the roost when the pool play came to a close on Friday, as men’s and women’s top seeds Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan and Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald escaped unscathed on Day 2 action of the AVC Beach Tour Pingtan Open at Beach Sport base of Pingtan, East Huandao Road here.
Current world No.12 and former three-time Asian champions Cherif/Ahmed have set their sights on winning consecutive three AVC Beach Tour titles following their successful two outings at the 24th Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand and the Doha Open on their home soil. The superb Qatari duo pulled off convincing 2-0 (21-12, 21-9) victory over Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gurin/Sergey Bogatu on Friday to top Pool A. However, win or loss, both teams advanced to round of 16 as only two teams are featured in the group.
Pool B was dominated by Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Abdulmajid Mokhammad, who produced a stunning comeback 2-1 (15-21, 21-18, 15-13) win against Australia’s second seeds and current Asian champions D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse.
Australia’s third seeds and Nuvali Open winners Paul Burnett/Luke Ryan captured the top spot in Pool C following their lopsided 21-9, 21-12 victory over Thailand’s Poravid Taovato/Nobphadon Sukphuwong on Friday.
Fourth seeds Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha and fifth seeds Banlue Nakprakhong/Dunwinit Kaewsai saved the pride for Thailand to top respective Pool D and Pool E, with the former recovering from the closely-contested first-set loss to beat Iranians Abolhassan Khakizadeh/Amirali GhalehNovi 2-1 (23-25, 21-18, 15-10) and the latter demolishing Japan’s Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Hiroki Dylan Kurokawa 2-0 (21-13, 21-14).
New Zealand’s sixth seeds and Samila Open silver medallists Bradley Fuller/Ben O’Dea finished on top of Pool F after two wins in a row in the group including a hard-fought 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-11) victory over Australia’s 11th seeds and Nuvali Open silver medallists Ben Hood/Oliver Merritt on Friday.
Iran’s 7th seeds Alireza Aghajanighasab/Abbas Pourasgari, bronze medallists at the recent Samila Open and the 2024 Asian Championship, and China’s 8th seeds Wang Yanwei/Du Hongjun made a clean sweep in respective Pool G and Pool H without dropping a single set to their respective opponents.
Meanwhile, in the women’s event, China’s fourth seeds Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli, who snatched gold at the 2024 Wuhan Qingshan Futures, and Kiwis Polley/MacDonald, recent winners at the Phu Yen Open in Vietnam and the Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Futures in Philippines, topped Pool A and Pool B respectively.
Australia’s second seeds and Nuvali Open champions Jasmine Fleming/Stefanie Fejes and third seeds Elizabeth Alchin/Georgia Johnson captured the top spots in respective Pool C and Pool D following completion of the pool play on Thursday.
China’s fifth seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin and Japan’s sixth seeds Asami Shiba/Reika Murakami did not lose a single set to their respective opponents to top Pool E and Pool F, with the former stunning the Samila Open champions Ren Matsumoto/Non Matsumoto of Japan 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) and the latter powering past Aussies Tara Phillips/Kayla Mears 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) on Friday.
Thailand’s 2021 Asian champions Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee and China’s Yu Tong/Jiang Kaiyue had a perfect run on Friday to finish on top of Pool G and Pool H.
On Friday, Taravadee/Worapeerachayakorn were leading 18-7 in the first set before Japan’s Saki Maruyama/Miki Ishii forfeited the on-going game due to an unexpected injury, leaving the Thai duo to run away with a comfortable 2-0 win, while Yu Tong/Jiang Kaiyue outperformed Thailand’s Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn/Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert 2-0 (21-12, 21-15).
Following the completion of the pool play, the double-gender competition has reached crescendo as all qualified teams must play their best in the elimination knockout stage, starting with round of 16 in the Saturday morning and the action-packed quarterfinals in the afternoon session. The semifinals and final showdowns in both men’s and women’s events will be held on Sunday, May 11, 2025.
MATCH RESULTS
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WOMEN
POOLS
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MATCH SCHEDULE
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FINAL RANKINGS
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