Quang Ninh, Vietnam, May 17, 2022 – Indonesia and Thailand, defending men’s and women’s champions, flexed their muscles on Day 3 of the 31st Southeast Asian Games Beach Volleyball Tournament at Tuan Chau Beach, with the former brushing off Laos and the latter powering past Malaysia in exceptional 2-0 wins on Tuesday.
In the women’s event, Thailand’s Asian champions Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee, who stunned the 2018 Asian Games bronze medallists Dhita Juliana/Putu Utami of Indonesia in their main draw first clash on Sunday, outclassed Aina Ahmad Nizar Farwizah/Jia Yin Beh Maegan 21-17, 21-10, while teammates Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee, silver medalists at the Incheon-hosted 2014 Asian Games in Korea, also had an easy task against Foo Sin Xi/Yee Sin Sing to trounce the Malaysians 21-13, 21-10.
Philippines performed well but still went down to Indonesia in the golden match. Indonesia’s hopefuls Dhita Juliana/Putu Utami proved their talent by shutting out Filipinas Cherry Ann Rondina/Bernadeth Pons 21-19, 21-17, but Jovelyn Gonzaga/Floremel Rodriguez did not surrender easily as they pulled off a convincing 21-13, 21-19 win against Indonesians Nur Atika/Sari Hartati for a 1-1 tie. Nonetheless, the golden match saw Dhita/Putu prove too strong for Cherry Ann Rondina/Bernadeth Pons to outclass the Filipinas 21-15, 21-19. Hosts Vietnam also had a field day to beat Singapore 2-0.
In the men’s competition, Indonesia’s Ade Rachmawan/Mohammad Ashfiya, silver medallists at the 2018 Asian Games on home soil, defeated Laotians Daovy Daovy/Khampiene Sanyalack 21-15, 21-17, while Gilang Ramadhan/Rendy Licardo gave Indonesia another win after 21-16, 21-13 rout of Chanmina Chanthavong/Bounmixay Phommachan.
Philippines and Vietnam also celebrated their victories on Tuesday following their similar 2-0 wins against Cambodia and Singapore respectively.
On Wednesday, Thailand go up against Singapore, Vietnam take on Philippines and Malaysia challenge Indonesia in the round-robin preliminaries in the women’s event, while the men’s competition sees Vietnam test their mettle against Philippines, Thailand play Laos and Indonesia meet Malaysia.
Top two teams from each pool will advance to the cross semifinals on Thursday, while teams finishing third from each pool will fight it out in classification round.
In the women’s event, teams continue their round-robin preliminaries on Wednesday.
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