Home teams ruled the roost on Day 2 of the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships at Beach Sport Base of Pingtan in Fuzhou, with seven Chinese teams including 5 women’s pairings advancing to the Sunday’s highly-anticipated quarterfinals.
The topflight championships are set to reach climax on Sunday when top eight teams in both men’s and women’s events will fight it out for places in the semifinals later in the afternoon.
Eight teams qualified to the women’s quarterfinals comprised five from hosts China and one team apiece from Japan, New Zealand and Thailand.
The all-Chinese affair will highlight the first two matches in the Sunday’s quarterfinals when top seeds Lin Meimei/Zeng Jinjin challenge Ahedan Mushajiang/Wang Jingzhe and seventh seeds Dong Jie/Wang Fan, gold medallists at the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Thailand last April, go up against fifth seeds Xia Xinyi/Xue Chen.
Sixth seeds Wang Xinxin/Zhu Lingdi set up the third quarterfinal clash when the Chinese duo will take on Japanese third seeds Miki Ishii/Sayaka Mizoe, silver medallists at the 2021 Asian meet in Phuket, Thailand, while Alice Zeimann, who last year teamed up with Shaunna Polley to capture the 2022 Asian title in Thailand’s Roi-Et Province but switched to partner Olivia MacDonald as 10th seeds this time, will be pitted against Thailand’s 2021 Asian champions and second seeds Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Kongphopsarutawadee Worapeerachayakorn in the remaining encounter of the quarterfinals.
Chinese Lin Meimei/Zeng Jinjin started the day’s pool-play campaign with stunning 3-1 (21-18, 13-21, 13-15) loss to Japanese Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama, but bounced back from the disappointment to power past Japanese Suzuka Hashimoto/Reika Murakami 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) in the round of last 16 for a place in the Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Thai hopefuls Taravadee and Kongphopsarutawadee spent 38 minutes in overcoming Japanese Suzuka/Reika 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) in Pool B and remained in impressive form in the round of last 16 where they edged past Australians Georgia Johnson/Jasmine Fleming in hard-fought three-setter 21-16, 19-21, 15-12 to make the cut for the quarterfinals.
Chinese Ahedan/Wang Jingzhe overwhelmed Kazakhstan’s Dana Tlevlessova/Dariya Tlevlessova 21-7, 21-8 in a totally lopsided battle in Pool H and went on their solid performance to breeze past strong team from Thailand, Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee, 21-8, 21-12 in 29 minutes in the round of last 16.
Chinese veterans Xia Xinyi/Xue Chen beat Thailand’s Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn/Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert 21-16, 21-13 to top Pool E and remained unbeaten in the round of last 16 following their 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) victory against Japan’s Shiba/Maruyama.
Another Chinese pairing, Wang Xinxin/Zhu Lingdi demolished Australians Caitlin Bettenay/Alisha Stevens 21-17, 21-16 in Pool F before coming back from the first set down to Tara Phillips/Brittany Kendall to beat the Australian duo in hard-fought thriller 19-21, 24-22, 17-15 in the round of last 16.
Kiwis MacDonald/Zeimann outplayed Australians Bettenay/Stevens 22-20, 21-10 in the round of last 16 to advance to the Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Also advancing were Japanese Ishii/Mizoe after 21-8, 21-7 demolition of Hong Kong, China’s To Wing Tung/Wong Man Ching in the round of last 16.
Meanwhile, big names in the men’s event remained unscathed. Strong teams reaching the Sunday’s quarterfinals comprised three from Australia, two from hosts China and one apiece from Iran, Thailand and Qatar.
Chinese top seeds Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin, who had already captured three titles this year including the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand and the Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta Beach in Australia, saw off Iranians Zargham Mansouri/Mahdi Mahfouz 21-14, 21-15 in the round of last 16 to face another strong Iranian tandem of Salemiinjehboroun Bahman/Sina Shokati Shekarsaraei in the quarterfinals.
Qatar’s second seeds and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan spent only 29 minutes in comfortably beating Japanese Shiro Furuta/Hiroki Dylan Kurokawa 21-12, 21-13 and continued their superb form in the round of last 16 to brush off Kazakhstan’s Aldash Nurdos/Kirill Gurin 21-12, 21-16.
However, a daunting challenge awaits Cherif/Ahmed in the quarterfinals when the Qataris will next go up against third seeds Thomas Hodges/Zachery Schubert, who captured the recent Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Jurmala Challenge in Latvia. In the round of the last 16 earlier, the Australian duo came from behind to beat Thailand’s seventh seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai 16-21, 21-16, 15-5.
The 2021 Asian winners and fourth seeds Christopher McHugh/Paul Burnett from Australia pulled off sensational 21-12, 21-14 win against Chinese Li Zhuoxin/Liu Chuanyong in Pool D before routing Omani eighth seeds Ahmed Alhousni/Haitham Alshereiqi 21-19, 21-11 in the round of last 16.
In the Sunday’s quarterfinals, McHugh/Burnett will take on fifth seeds Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher, who in the round of last 12 demolished Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu 21-16, 21-12, in the all-Australians battle.
Thailand’s sixth seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, silver medallists at the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open last April, defeated Kiwis Thomas Hartles/Ben O’Dea 21-17, 21-17 in the round of last 16 to next challenge Chinese Li Jie/Wang Yanwei in the quarterfinals.
The men’s and women’s quarterfinals will be held in the Sunday morning, followed by the action-packed semifinals in the afternoon session. The third-place playoffs as well as the final showdowns in both men’s and women’s events and the closing ceremony will take place on Monday, the final day of the top-tier championships.
MEN’S RESULTS
MEN’S POOL RANKING
MEN’S FINAL RANKING
WOMEN’S RESULTS
WOMEN’S POOL RANKING
WOMEN’S FINAL RANKING
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