Australia is all but guaranteed to win the men’s gold medal when two Australian teams will face off in the Monday’s final showdown, as Chinese Xia Xinyi/Xue Chen and Thailand’s second seeds Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Kongphopsarutawadee Worapeerachayakorn will fight it out for the women’s crown in the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships at Beach Sport Base of Pingtan in Fuzhou, China.
Fifth seeds Xia/Xue, who became the first Chinese team to take gold at a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event with their victory in Itapema, Brazil early this year, overcame a strong challenge from Dong Jie/Wang Fan, gold medallists at the 2023 AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Thailand last April, in the all-Chinese quarterfinal clash to beat the compatriots in grueling three sets 21-16, 18-21, 15-5.
The Olympians Xia and Xue proved too strong for Mushajiang Aheidan/Wang Jingzhe in another all-Chinese affair in the semifinals to pull off a comfortable 2-0 (21-10, 21-9) win against the 25th seeds for a place in the Sunday’s showdown, where they are set to take on the 2021 Asian champions Taravadee and Kongphopsarutawadee.
The Thai duo overcame Olivia MacDonald/Alice Zeimann from New Zealand 2-1 (21-9, 19-21, 15-8) in the quarterfinals and went on their superb form to power past Japanese third seeds and old foes Miki Ishii/Sayaka Mizoe, whom they had already beaten in the 2021 final showdown of the Phuket-hosted, double-gender Asian Championships, 21-18, 21-16 in the semifinals.
As Chinese Xia Xinyi/Xue Chen set up the women’s final clash with Thailand’s Taravadee and Kongphopsarutawadee, Chinese Aheidan/Wang Jingzhe and Japanese Ishii/Mizoe will contest the third-place playoff to vie for the bronze medal.
In the men’s competition, Chinese top seeds Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin, who had already captured three titles this year comprising the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand, the Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta Beach in Australia and Beach Pro Tour Futures Mt Maunganui Beach in New Zealand, crashed out of the topflight competition following their 17-21, 19-21 loss to Saleminjehboroun Bahman/Shokati Shekarsarael Sina in the quarterfinals.
Unfortunately, the Iranians could not go the distance as they succumbed to 13-21, 16-21 loss to much stronger McHugh/Burnett, the 2021 Asian winners from Australia, in the semifinals.
Unbeaten and fourth seeds McHugh/Burnett, who saw off compatriots and fifth seeds Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher 21-17, 21-11 in the quarterfinals, are set to challenge Thomas Hodges/Zachery Schubert in the all-Australians showdown on Monday.
Winning the recent Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Jurmala Challenge in Latvia to their name, third seeds Hodges and Schubert pulled off a surprise 2-0 (27-25, 21-19) win against Qatari second seeds Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan, in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
Following the major setback of Chinese top seeds Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin in the quarterfinals, Cherif and Ahmed proved to be the highest seed to fall on the same day. The Qatari duo are reigning champions and bronze medallists at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics who picked up silver at the last month’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 event in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
As Aussies McHugh/Burnett will take on compatriots Hodges/Schubert in the final, Iranians Saleminjehboroun Bahman/Shokati Shekarsarael Sina will fight it out with Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato in the third-place playoff match for the bronze medal.
Pithak and Poravid , gold medallists at the Subic Bay Futures in the Philippines last December who picked up silver meal at the last April’s AVC Beach Tour Samila Open on home soil, demolished Chinese Li/Wang 21-16, 21-14 in the quarterfinals, but could not maintain their fine form in the semifinals, where they went down 18-21, 16-21 to Hodges/Schubert.
Monday, June 26, is the final day of the top-tier championships. The third-place playoffs and the final showdowns in both events will be held in the afternoon, followed by the awards presentation and the closing ceremony.
MEN’S RESULTS
MEN’S FINAL RANKING
MEN’S MATCH SCHEDULE
WOMEN’S RESULTS
WOMEN’S FINAL RANKING
WOMEN’S MATCH SCHEDULE
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