The continental event took place in Roi-Et
- Hosts Thailand win women’s silver and men’s bronze at the Asian U19 Championships with FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support
- Teams from Australia and China claim the women’s gold and bronze
- A pair from Iran wins the men’s final against a duo from Lebanon
- Qualifying teams in the Asian Volleyball Federation for the 2024 FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championships decided
FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Thailand hosted last week’s Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships at the Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School Courts in Roi-Et and its teams picked up two medals, one per gender.
Varagkhana Sogalee & Somruedee Koedkaew took silver in the women’s tournament, while Rueangrit Wiromrat & Suranath Rattanapolsaen claimed bronze in the men’s competition. Through these results, Thailand booked main draw spots at this summer’s FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championships in China for both genders.
The Australian women’s pairing of Jasmine Rayner & Cameron Zajer and the men’s duo from Iran, of Amir Ali Ghaleh Novi & Habib Akbarzadeh Kashani topped the continental podiums. The women’s bronze went to Qi Siyu & Lei Yijing of China and the men’s silver was claimed by Hadi El Chabib & Jad Abi Karam of Lebanon. The Thailand Volleyball Association President Somporn Chaibangyang headlined the awarding ceremony.
The Thailand Volleyball Association’s beach volleyball department has so far been allocated a total of CHF 216,000 worth of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support and their national teams have been training under the guidance of Brazilian coach Adriana Bento.
Varagkhana & Somruedee (pictured in the main photo; credits: Thailand Volleyball Association) reached the women’s final on a five-game winning run, dropping only a set along the way. In the semi-finals, the top-seeded home team faced another duo from Thailand, 21st-seeded Piyathida Onlaoo & Orathai Sembut, and mastered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) victory. Second-seeded Rayner & Zajer produced a 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) sweep of the other semi-final against 16th-seeded Qi & Lei before snatching the continental title upon a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) win over Varagkhana & Somruedee.
Qi & Lei collected the bronze medals after a 2-0 (21-14, 25-23) victory over Piyathida & Orathai in the third-place match.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6l0Y7wSKF6/?igsh=MTQwczV1aXlqNXM2Nw==
In the men’s tournament, Ruengrit & Suranath, competing as the 18th seed in the men’s main draw, finished Pool B runners-up and then delivered two straight-set victories to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals however they lost out to 17th-seeded El Chabib & Jad of Lebanon.
Ruengrit & Suranath bounced back in a 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 17-15) victory over second-seeded Killian Donovan & Jett Rocker-Graham of Australia in the third-place game to claim the bronze.
Third-seeded Ghaleh Novi & Akbarzadeh followed up on their 2-1 (21-10, 16-21, 15-10) semi-final win over Donovan & Rocker-Graham to win the gold medal match against El Chabib & Jad.
Play-off matches for the U19 Beach Volleyball World Championship quotas were also held on Sunday and the AVC officially confirmed the teams who have so far qualified for the event in Shangluo, China from 27 August to 1 September. Iran, Lebanon, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand qualified for the men’s main draw, while Australia, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Kazakhstan booked their spots in the women’s main draw.
Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Indonesia will compete in the men’s qualifications, with Hong Kong on the reserve list. Pairs from Indonesia, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong earned places in the women’s qualifiers, with Vietnam on the reserve list.
A total of 32 men’s and 21 women’s teams from 17 different countries took part in the 2024 Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships.
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
Mikasa Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/mikasasports_official
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation