Thailand and Indonesia to fight it out in final men’s and women’s showdowns
Thailand and Indonesia powered past respective rivals in the Monday’s semifinals to set up final men’s and women’s showdowns of the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games Beach Volleyball Tournament at Otres Beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which serves as the AVC Continental Cup Phase 1 Southeastern Zone.
In the men’s semifinals on Monday, the Thai men struggled to beat Vietnam 2-0 and are due to face off against reigning champions Indonesia in the Tuesday’s showdown. The Indonesians demolished Philippines 2-0 in the other semifinals on Monday.
The women’s semifinal encounters saw Indonesia outplay Vietnam 2-0 to go up against title-holders Thailand in the Tuesday’s final clash. Thailand breezed past Singapore 2-0 in the other semifinal match.
As Thailand and Indonesia set up final men’s and women’s showdowns, Vietnam will challenge Philippines in the men’s third-place playoff clash and Vietnam will also fight it out with Singapore in the women’s bronze-medal match.
In the men’s event on Monday, unbeaten Vietnam, which topped Pool A, mounted a strong challenge against Pool B second place Thailand, but found the Thai outfits a tough nut to crack. Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, who emerged as the champions at the FIVB Beach Pro Tour Subic Bay Futures in Philippines last December and picked up silver medal at the last month’s AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open on home soil in Songkhla, went down 18-21 in the first set against Nguyen Lam Toi/Quang Vu Tran, but shrugged off their rust just in time to defeat the Vietnamese duo 21-17, 15-6 to hand Thailand a 2-1 victory in the first match.
Vietnam still performed well in the second encounter as Nguyen Thuyen/Van Nha Nguyen stretched the tough match against Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai to three sets but eventually succumbed to the 1-2 (18-21, 21-17, 9-15) loss to the Thai tandem.
Thailand won the match 2-0 to next challenge defending champions Indonesia in the final showdown, which turns out to be a preliminary Pool B rematch. Indonesia had already beaten Thailand 2-1 in the pool play and still hoped high to repeat the similar feat in the Tuesday’s showdown.
Indonesia, spearheaded by Pribadi Danangsyah/Ramadhan Gilang, the 2018 Asian Games bronze medallists on home soil and also bronze medallists at the last month’s AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open in Thailand, took an early 1-0 lead following the Indonesian duo’s hard-fought 21-17, 26-24 win against Filipinos Abdilla Alnakran/Requinton Jaron.
Ashfiya Mohammad/Akbar Bintang also fought well against Garcia Jude/Buytrago James to cruise part the Filipinos 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) for the Indonesia’s eventual 2-0 victory. Indonesia will be out to defend their title and if they can do it on Tuesday, they will make it three in a row in the biennial multi-sport event.
Meanwhile, in the women’s semifinals on Monday, Pool A winners Indonesia trounced Vietnam 2-0 to next fight it out with reigning champions Thailand in the Tuesday’s showdown.
Eka Yokebed/Sari Nur Atika stormed past Dinh Thi My Nga/Nguyen Le Thi Tuong Vy to give Indonesia a crucial 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) win and a 1-0 lead. Juliana Dhita/Ratnasari Desi brushed off Chau Ngoc Lan/Nguyen Thai Thanh Tram 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) in 32 minutes to end the Vietnam’s challenge. Indonesia will next go up against reigning champions Thailand in the Tuesday’s final.
The 2021 Asian winners Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadeeb powered past Singaporeans Soh Cecilia Hui Chin/Tan Kai Yun Alicia 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) to bag the first win for Thailand before Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee, gold medallists at the 2022 Songkhla Future on Samila Beach in Thailand and winners at the 2013 Indonesia Palembang Open, made it two for two for the Thai women as they overwhelmed Chong Eliza/Phua Zhao Rong in a totally one-sided affair 2-0 (21-7, 21-9) just in 32 minutes.
As Thailand and Indonesia will battle it out for the eventual men’s and women’s titles on Tuesday, both teams are assured of securing their berths for either Semifinals or Finals of the AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.
The eventual winners will qualify for the Finals, while the losers in the finals will have to strut their stuff in the Semifinals. Australia has already confirmed to host the men’s Finals, with China organizing the women’s Finals. However, hosts for the Semifinals have yet been revealed.
Indonesia and Thailand made clean sweeps of 7 gold medals since beach volleyball was included in the SEA Games for the first time in 2003. The inclusion of beach volleyball as the medal sporting event continued in the SEA Games in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Only in 2013 (Nay Pyi Taw), 2015 (Singapore) and 2017 (Kuala Lumpur), host countries did not include the sport as the medal events.
In 2019, 2021 as well as the 2023 edition in Cambodia, beach volleyball had become the team sport (country), with each country fielding Team A and Team B. Indonesia swept the men’s title in the last two editions, with Thailand and Philippines picking up silver and bronze medals for both occasions.
Thailand also captured both gold medals on offer in 2019 and 2021, with Indonesia and Philippines making a two-three finish in both editions.
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