U19 Worlds bronze medallists Anhelina Khmil/Tetiana Lazarenko from Ukraine are set to challenge Spaniards Daniela Alvarez Mendoza/Sofia Gonzalez Racero in women’s showdown
Phuket, Thailand, December 18, 2021 – All Asian teams crashed out of the 2020 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships at Bang Tao Beach here, with U19 Worlds silver medallists Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha of Thailand and Australians Jasmine Fleming/Kayla Mears the last two pairings to crash out of the intense competition on Saturday.
In the women’s event, Ukrainian’s Khmil/Lazarenko and Spain’s Daniela Alvarez Mendoza/Sofia Gonzalez Racero will face off in the final clash following their exceptional wins in the Saturday’s semifinals, with the former overcoming a sturdy challenge from Menia Bentele/Leona Kernen to beat the Swiss pairing 2-0 (21-11, 25-23) in 38 minutes and the latter ousting Latvians Varvara Brailko/Anete Namike 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) in 28 minutes.
Swiss Bentele/Kernen will play their last match in Phuket against Brailko/Namike in the third-place playoff on Sunday.
For Khmil/Lazarenko, to advance to the Sunday’s final showdown assured them that they will return from Thailand with two medals for sure since the Ukrainians have already claimed bronze medal in the U19 World Championships last week They have come up much stronger in the U21 Worlds here to storm into the final, which has guaranteed them either gold or silver medal.
In the quarterfinals earlier, Khmil/Lazarenko put it past Russians Mariia Bocharova/Elizaveta Gubina 2-0 (21-19, 21-13), while Spaniards Alvarez/Gonzalez demolished Brazilians Maria Fernanda Ferreira Dias/Carolina Sallaberry Cavalcanti 2-0 (21-16, 23-21). Bocharova, a reigning Youth Olympic champion and a silver medallist from the previous U21 World Championships in Udon Thani, also in Thailand, failed in her title defence of U19 Worlds last week and tried to make up for that at the U21 event this time but had to suffer another disappointment.
In the other two quarterfinal encounters on Saturday, Switzerland’s Bentele/Jernen ended the remarkable run of 28th-seeded Fleming/Mears, the lowest ranked team to make the quarterfinals, after powering past the Australian young guns 2-0 (21-15, 21-13), while Latvians Braiko/Namike struggled to beat Russians Arina Riazhnova/Elizaveta Ludkova 2-0 (21-19, 21-18).
Meanwhile, after a brilliant performance in pool stage to top men’s Pool C without dropping a set to their respective opponents, 19-year-old Netitorn/Wachirawit advanced direct to the Saturday’s round of last 16, where they remained in superb form to see off Ukrainians Oleksandr Boiko/Oleksii Bublyk 2-0 (21-14, 21-19).
The Thai duo, who have already made history for the host country as they snatched unprecedented silver medal at the U19 World Championships, secured their quarterfinal berth in the Saturday afternoon, but found Swedes David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig too strong to comfortably go down 0-2 (11-21, 14-21) in 31 minutes, completely ending their challenges in the U21 Worlds.
Another Thai tandem, top seeds Phichakon Narathon/Poravid Taovato, entered the round of 24, where they survived a huge scare from Johann Ferdinand Dohmann/Lucas Coelho Fagundes Sampaio to stun the in-form Brazilian duo 2-1 (25-23, 18-21, 15-12) in exhausting 63 minutes of the hard-fought thriller.
Against Czechia’s Tadeas Trousil/Matyas Dzavoronok in the round of last 16, Phichakon/Poravid got off to a victorious start with a stunning 21-18 win in the first set, but lost the hotly-contested second set 22-24 to force a tie-breaker, where the Thais lost their touch to go down 10-15 for the eventual 1-2 letdown.
However, Trousil/Dzavoronok also failed to make the grade in the quarterfinals as they lost 0-2 (19-21, 13-21) to Italians Gianluca Dal Corso/Marco Viscovich to crash out of the top-tier competition.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Russians Dmitrii Veretiuk/Aleksei Arkhipov edged past Brazilian second-seeded Mateus De Paula Dultra/Gabriel Zuliani 2-0 (23-21, 21-19), while Swedes Ahman/Hellvig shattered the hosts’ dream of repeatedly stepping on the top-three podium after 2-0 (21-11, 21-14) rout of Netitorn/Wachirawit and Czechia’s Jakub Sepka/Tomas Semerad defeated Chileans Noe Aravena/Martin Iglesias 2-0 (21-14, 21-19).
The Sunday morning’s semifinals see Russians Veretiuk/Arkhipov challenge Italians Dal Corso/Viscovich and Swedes Ahman/Hellvig go up against Czechia’s Sepka/Semerad. The two winning teams then set up a final clash for the world crown in the afternoon, with the two losers fighting it out in the third-place playoff for bronze medal.
The men’s semifinals and both genders’ medal matches on Sunday will be streamed live on the Beach Volleyball World video channel on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/BeachVolleyballWorld
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