Aussies did not make the cut in men’s quarterfinals, while Chinese men’s and women’s players keep the flag flying
Songkla, Thailand, April 15, 2023 – Home and Chinese players overcame the scorching heat and strong opponents to rule the roost in the men’s event, as two women’s teams apiece from China, Japan and Australia secured their quarterfinal berths in the AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open on Saturday
As Thailand braced for heatwave with temperatures in southern provinces including Songkla soaring to between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday, participating teams put utmost efforts with the aim of squeezing into the quarterfinals. Strong teams advanced, while some other lower-ranked sides unfortunately crashed out of the competition.
In the men’s event, three home teams lived up to all expectations to enter the quarterfinals. Top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato topped Pool A following their comeback 18-21, 21-16, 15-11 win against Kazakhs Kirill Gurin/Nurdos Aldash in the pool round-robin preliminaries. The Thai duo, who last December had captured gold medal at the Subic Bay Futures in the Philippines, continued their remarkable unbeaten run to cruise past Netitorn Muneekul/Nuttanon Inkiew 21-14, 21-13 in the all-Thais round of last 16 to book a quarterfinal berth.
Also through to the Sunday’s quarterfinals were Thailand’s third seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai, who came from behind to beat Indonesians Mohammad Ashfiya/Yosi Firnanda 22-24, 21-19, 15-10 in grueling 58 minutes for the top spot in Pool C. The Thai tandem remained undefeated after an upset 21-19, 21-19 win in their tough round of 16 match against Japanese Shoji Kensuke/Ikeda Jumpei.
In-form Banlue Nakprakhong/Intuch Techakijvorakul also made the host country proud after stunning Aussies Garang Anyang/D’ artagnan Potts 21-18, 22-20 to go atop Pool D and advance to the round of 16, which they narrowly edged out Japanese Kai Kurokawa/Kosuke Fukushima 21-19, 24-22 for a place in the quarterfinals.
Two Chinese teams also performed brilliantly on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals. Second seeds Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin topped Pool B after crushing Kiwis Giles Black/John McManaway 21-11, 21-17 in their last preliminary match and went on their awesome form to brush off Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gurin/Nurdos Aldash 21-10, 21-16 in the round of last 16.
Ha and Wu early this month claimed gold medal in Coolangatta, Australia following their solid 2-0 victory against Thailand’s Pithak and Poravid in the final showdown for their third back-to-back Futures gold after topping the podiums in Sohar, Oman and New Zealand earlier.
Another Chinese duo, Li Zhouxin and Liu Chuanyong went atop Pool H after routing Australians Lucas Josefsen/Ben Hood 21-17, 21-19 in their last pool play match and pulled off a hard-fought three-set win 21-17, 15-21, 15-10 against Australians Anyang/Potts in the round of 16.
Also advancing to the Sunday’s quarterfinals were Indonesians Pribadi Danangsyah/Gilang Ramadhan, who claimed bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games on home soil in Palembang, Kiwis Bradley Fuller/Alani Nicklin and Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu.
Earlier in the round of 16 on Saturday, Danangsyah and Gilang survived a scare from Black/McManaway to beat the New Zealanders in a thrilling match 21-12, 15-21, 15-13 in exhausting 54 minutes, while Fuller/Nicklin outplayed Australians Josefsen/Hood 21-15, 21-17 and Yakovlev/Bogatu overcame a strong challenge from Ashfiya/Yosi for a dramatic 21-17, 21-23, 15-13 win over the embattled Indonesians.
In the women’s competition, top seven seeds amazingly escaped unscathed to secure their spots in the Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Thailand’s top seeds Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Rumpaiprute Numwong recovered from the first set down to beat Indonesians Dhita Juiliana/Desi Ratnasari 19-21, 21-19, 15-13 in exhausting 61 minutes in their last Pool A match. Later in the round of last 16, Naraphornrapat and Rumpaiprute received a walkover from Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn/Woranatchayakont Phirachayakrailert due to unexpected injury.
Japan’s second seeds Akiko Hasegawa/Yurika Sakagiuchi topped Pool B following a one-sided 21-6, 21-10 win against Laura Kabulbekova/Nadezhda Ivanchenko of Kazakhstan in their last preliminary match. The Japanese went on their superb form in the round of 16 to brush off Kiwis Olivia MacDonald/Katie Sadlier 21-15, 21-18.
Another Japanese pairing, eighth seeds Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama, beat Thailand’s Charanrutwadee/Worantchayakorn 22-20, 22-24, 15-5 in an intense competition in grueling 57 minutes to later eliminate Indonesians Eka Yokedbed/Nur Atika Sari 21-13, 21-13.
China’s third seeds Wang Xinxin/Zhu Lingdi and fourth seeds Dong Jie/Wang Fan had a field day, with the former beating Australians Kayla Mears/Tara Phillips 21-17, 21-19 and the latter trouncing Japanese Sayaka Yamada/Takemi Nishibori 21-16, 21-17 in the round of 16.
Australia also had something to be proud of when its two teams advanced to the Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Fifth seeds Georgia Johnson/Jasmine Fleming overcame a strong challenge from Yamada/Takemi to narrowly edge out the Japanese tandem 21-12, 16-21, 15-9, with seventh seeds Nicole Laird/Brittany Kendall beating Kiwis MacDonald/Sadlier 21-17, 21-11 in their pool plays.
Later in the afternoon, Johnson and Fleming saw off Thailand’s Salinda/Somruedee 21-14, 21-13, while Laird and Kendall cruised their way back to beat Indonesians Dhita/Desi 19-21, 21-18, 15-12 in 54minutes in the round of 16.
Sixth seeds Majabelle Lawac/Sherysyn Toko from Vanuatu found Patcharaporn Seehawong/Samitta Simarongnam a tough pairing to deal with to finally shut out the Thai duo 18-21, 23-21, 15-12 in the round of 16.
The tournament continues on Sunday morning in the quarterfinals in both men’s and women’s events, followed by the semifinals in the afternoon session. The third-place playoffs and the gold-medal matches will be held on Monday.
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