Roi Et, Thailand, May 3, 2024 – Promising women’s teams from Thailand and China keep the flags flying high in the 5th Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships at Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School Courts here, with all of them marching into the much-anticipated quarterfinals on Saturday, the penultimate day of the five-day tournament which serves as the qualification for the 2024 FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in Shangluo, China later this year.
The top five Federations in both men’s and women’s events in Roi Et will directly get through to the main draw of the world meet in Shangluo between August 27 and September 1, with another four Federations being pitted in the qualifying rounds.
The women’s teams battled hard in the round of 16 on another scorching day Friday, hoping to overcome the opponents’ daunting challenges and the energy-sapping heat which saw the sweltering temperatures drop a bit from Thursday but remain uncomfortably high at around 39-40 degree Celsius.
Thailand’s top seeds Varagkhana Sogalee/Somruedee Koedkaew, winners at the last week’s South East Asian (SAVA) U19 Championships at the same competition venue here, proved the unstoppable force in the Thailand’s team lineup. After amazingly producing unbeaten run without dropping a set in the pool play, the local gold-medal hopefuls showcased their prowess to brush off Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Chianing/Chuang Hsintung 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) in comfortable 34 minutes.
In the Saturday’s quarterfinals, Varagkhana/Somruedee will take on Japan’s 13th seeds Mei Mori/Noa Utsugi, the rivals they had already beaten in Pool A. Mori/Utsugi bounced back to stun third seeds Niko Morikawa/Waka Yada 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-5) in the all-Japanese clash in round of 16 on Friday.
Another Thai pair, 14th seeds Inthira Bunpasong/Suchipha Rittila, who picked up silver at the SAVA U19 Championships, pulled off upset 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) win against Kiwi fourth seeds Emma Mason/Kaia Buckley to next go up against Qi Siyu/Lei Yijing in the quarterfinals. The Chinese 16th seeds beat Kazakhstan’s Yekaterina Ryukhova/Gayana Galash 2-0 (21-10, 25-23) in Friday’s round of 16.
Thailand’s Piyathida Onlaoo/Orathai Sembut also advanced to the quarterfinals following their magnificent 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) demolition of Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Chiungying/Wei Yenlin on Friday. The Thai 21st seeds will next challenge Chinese Wang Jiaying/Zhang Jiabei, who in the other round of 16 encounter outplayed Indonesians Alifa Zahwa Arifin/Mido Maya Saputri 2-0 (21-16, 21-15).
Also entering the Saturday’s quarterfinals are the 10th seeds Qariesya Nur Azwa/Auni Shamsulrizal, who crushed Goh Yuheng Cadence/Lim Jingqian 2-0 (21-12, 21-12) in the all-Malaysians affair in round of 16. Qariesya/Auni are set to next take on Australia’s second seeds Jasmine Rayner/Cameron Zajer, who handed Kazakhstan’s Dariya Tlevlessova/Mariya Peressetskaya the bitter 0-2 (14-21, 19-21) loss on Friday.
Meanwhile, the men’s teams tried to give their bests in the electrifying pool play on the last day, as only top two teams from each pool (Pools A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H) will qualify for the Saturday’s round of 16.
At the end of the Friday’s pool play, Australia, Thailand, China, New Zealand and Malaysia had two teams apiece through to round of 16, while Singapore, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Iran and Hong Kong China had one each.
Among top 10 seeds advancing to round of 16, only three did not make the cut consisting of Japan’s fifth seeds Kiichi Inagaki/Masato Yamashita, Qatar’s ninth seeds Adem Saber Lajli/Nour Mondher Othmen and Hong Kong China’s 10th seeds Li Chiho/Chiu Hochi.
With only top two teams from each pool advancing, Lebanese 17th seeds El Chabib Hadi/Jad Abi Karam topped Pool A, with Thailand’s top seeds Big Manyahong/Aphichat Thonghin in second place.
Australian second seeds Killian Donovan/Jett Rocker-Graham and Thailand’s Rueangrit Wiromrat/Suranath Ratanapolsaen, winners at the SAVA U19 Championships, finished top two in Pool B.
Iran’s third seeds Amir Ali GhalehNovi /Kashani Habib Akbarzadeh captured the top spot in Pool C and Australians Finley Bennett/Adam Fejes came in second position.
Unbeaten fourth seeds Song Jinyang/Sun Zhihao from China topped Pool D, with Singaporeans Sasikumar Ranjiv/Eng Chengfeng Renfred in second place.
Another Chinese pairing, Liu Yuan/Xu Minyue finished on top of Pool E, while Malaysians Adam Adnan Muhammad/Low Jengyih were placed second in the Pool.
In Pool F, Kazakhstan’s sixth seeds Vladislav Mastikhin/Nurboldy Kulboldyyev clinched the top spot in Pool F, with Malaysians Teh Youtat/Chong Yongxuan in second place.
Kiwis Davi Pacheco/Thomas Vesty have yet lost a single set to top Pool G, leaving Indonesia’s seventh seeds Wijaksana Ramli/Ramadhan Rafly Andhika Rizky to finish second.
Another Kiwi pair, eight seeds Nathan Davies/Liam Smith, stay undefeated to top Pool H, while Hong Kong China’s Wong Hoyiu/Li Hoifung came in second spot.
These men’s teams will contest round of 16 on Saturday morning, with eight winning teams set to battle it out in the afternoon quarterfinals.
RESULTS
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WOMEN
POOLS
MEN
MATCH SCHEDULE
MEN
WOMEN
FINAL RANKING
MEN
WOMEN
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