The 5th Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships kicked off on Thursday at Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School beach volleyball sites in Roi Et, with strong teams from Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Iran and hosts Thailand off to winning starts.
In the men’s event, Thailand 1’s top seeds Phuthanet Khamtao/Saiphirun Ruairung made a strong start in Pool A, spending 31 minutes in beating Kiichi Inagaki/Reo Kashiwaya in comfortable straight sets 21-13, 21-11. The Japan 2’s duo succumbed to their second defeat in the afternoon session when they went down to Iran 2’s Ali Ghorbanpasandi/Naseri Habib 12-21, 15-22.
Three teams are competing in each pool and one team had already lost twice. With only top two teams will be advancing, Thailand 1 and Iran 2 are assured of advancing to the next round. The next match between them will decide the top spot in Pool A.
In Pool B, second seeds Lucas Josefsen/Ben Hood from Australia 1 enjoyed comfortable Day 1 when they brushed off Hong Kong, China 2’s Wu Kin Long/ Chiu Ho Chi 21-12, 21-6. However, a daunting task awaits the Australian duo when they will next go up against China 2’s Xu Xongqi/Zhou Yongji, who also pulled off an easy win 21-12, 21-10 against the pairing from Hong Kong, China 2.
China’s third seeds Hong Weiqiang/Song Jinyang registered their first win in Pool C following their 21-15, 21-15 win against Malaysia 2’s Nagarajan Phavithyranmuni/Muhammad Ilham Adili Alias, while fourth seeds Ivailo Todorov/Klim Ryukhov from Kazakhstan 1 got off to a flying start with 21-19, 21-13 victory against Vietnam 2’s Bin Van Hoai/Nguyen Hoang Bao Linh in Pool D and Iran’s fifth seeds Alizadeh Koyakhi Mahdi/Zamani Amir Reza enjoyed the first day win in Pool E.
In Pool F, Kurosawa/Mizobata suffered the first loss at the hands of Supasak Deeden/Kittipoom Ruchisuk as the Japanese sixth seeds went down to the Thailand 3 tandem 18-21, 19-21.
In the women’s event, top three seeds made it through on Day 1 of the double-gender competition, with Thailand 1’s top seeds Patcharaporn Seehawong/Jidapa Bunongkhun winning two in a row.
Fresh from 2-0 (21-11, 21-2) rout of Hong Kong 2’s Leung Yu Sze/Ngor Hui Wa Jacqueline in the Thursday morning, the Thai duo repeated the similar feat with another sensational 21-15, 21-13 win against Singapore 2’s Ng Yan Ting Cheryl/Cheng Kai Wen Trinyce in the afternoon in Pool A.
Second seeds Jasmine Fleming/Stefanie Fejes from Australia in Pool B and third seeds Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli from China in Pool C also pulled off convincing wins on Day 1, with the former spending only 23 minutes in brushing off Malaysia 2’s Marsyitah Masrizal/Iskandar Noor Aishah 21-3, 21-11 in a completely one-sided battle and the latter stunning Thailand 3’s Suchinna Choemphun/Tassanee Chongyoklang 21-13,, 21-12.
The Thai pairing earlier delighted home fans with their magnificent 21-14, 21-6 win against Vietnam 1’s Mai Hong Hanh/Nguyen Thi Thu.
In Pool D, fourth seeds Niko Morikawa/Waka Yada had disappointing Day 1 as the Japanese pairing kicked off their campaign with an upset 1-2 (14-21, 21-18, 9-15) loss to Kazakhstan 2’ 13th seeds Angelina Popandopulo/Anastassiya Pushinka.
The pool plays continue in both men’s and women’s events on Friday. The four-day championships in Roi Et serve as the Asian qualification for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships, due to be held at the same competition venue here in Roi Et, Thailand from November 7 to 12, 2023.
The top five teams in the Asian U21 Championships will get directly into the main draw of the World Championships, with the next four teams entering the qualifying actions of the world meet at the same venue.
MATCH RESULTS
MEN
POOL RANKING
WOMEN
POOL RANKING
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