Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, March 24, 2018 – Hosts Thailand, Indonesia and Kazakhstan brushed aside their tough rivals in must-have wow battles to storm into both men’s and women’s semi-finals in the 2018 Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships at the Nakhon Pathom Municipality Sports School competition site here, as in-form Pakistan and powerful China also joined the fray in the respective men’s and women’s events.
In one of the day’s highlights, tall Chinese Liu Jinqiu/Tang Xingyu, struggling under the energy-sapping heat, aimed for a successful comeback in the third set against Thailand’s Phanupong Thanan/Phichakon Narathon in the men’s quarter-finals.
However, the strongly-built Chinese duo failed in their final assault to go down in the closely-contested set for a shock 1-2 (15-21 21-19 18-20) defeat at the hands of the host players, who, to their credit, had already captured the Asian U17 Beach Volleyball Championships title two years ago on home soil.
Phanupong/Phichakon, who got the day off to a flying start with a scintillating 21-13 21-17 victory over Indians Ravi Robin/Kalidoss Rishither in the morning round of last 16, will go up against tall and towering Kazakhstan’s Abdulmajid Mokhammad/Nurdos Aldash, who thrashed Iran 21-18 21-12, in the Sunday’s semi-finals.
“It’s very difficult to play China as they are much taller than us. We just tried our best. We played more confidently after the first-set win. However, when we went down in the second set, we tried to keep up the pressure by playing with consistency and confidence and let our rivals come up with unforced mistakes. We’re very happy to win this tough match for a place in the semi-finals,” said Phichakon.
Danang Herlambang/Bintang Akbar also came a step closer to winning a berth for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships and the Youth Olympic Games later this year as the promising Indonesians sent Sri Lanka packing 21-11 21-13 in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
The superb Indonesian duo will next take on Pakistan’s Zainab Khan/Afaq Khan in the Sunday’s semi-finals. The Pakistani pairing came from behind to beat formidable Oman 18-21 21-14 15-10 in the quarter-final encounter.
Meanwhile, hosts Thailand enjoyed double delight on Saturday when Thatsarida Singchuea/Pawarun Chanthawichai remained on course in the women’s event following their hard-fought 21-14 23-21 win over Vietnam in the quarter-finals. The Thai team next go up against Indonesia’s Vitria Rahayu/Ragil Ningtyas, who crushed Sri Lanka 21-13 21-11, in the Sunday’s semi-finals.
“We won easily today. Sri Lanka also played well, but they made more mistakes than us. We will next play Thailand. It must be a very tough match out there because we have to fight against the host players and their cheering fans as well. We will do our best,” said Vitria Rahayu through an interpreter.
China’s Zeng Jinjin/Cao Shuting and Kazakhstan’s Alina Rachenko/Yelizaveta Yeropkina also made the cut for the semi-finals, with the former overwhelming Hong Kong 21-6 21-13 and the latter producing a fantastic comeback 2-1 (22-24 21-16 15-12) victory over Japan.
China and Kazakhstan will battle it out in the other semi-final clash on Sunday for a place in the final showdown.
The semi-finals of both men’s and women’s events will be held in the Sunday morning, with the third-place playoffs and both final matches taking place in the afternoon ahead of the awards presentation and closing ceremony.
Top three teams (country team) from both men’s and women’s events in the three-day Championships in Nakhon Pathom will secure berths for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in Nanjing, China from June 26 to July 1, 2018, while the similar quotas are also likely on offer for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 6 to 18, 2018.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
MEN
Round of last 16
Thailand b India 2-0 (21-13 21-17); China b Malaysia 2-0 (21-12 21-6); Kazakhstan b Maldives 2-0 (21-5 21-6); Iran b Cambodia 2-0 (21-10 21-14); Indonesia b Chinese Taipei 2-0 (21-8 21-17); Sri Lanka b Hong Kong 2-0 (21-16 21-16); Oman b Japan 2-0 (21-19 21-19); Pakistan b Laos 2-0 (21-15 21-13)
Quarter-finals
Thailand b China 2-1 (21-15 19-21 20-18)
Kazakhstan b Iran 2-0 (21-18 21-12)
Indonesia b Sri Lanka 2-0 (21-11 21-13)
Pakistan b Oman 2-1 (18-21 21-14 15-10)
WOMEN
Pool round-robin preliminaries
Sri Lanka b Singapore 2-0 (21-17 21-14)
Vietnam b Chinese Taipei 2-0 (21-19 22-20)
Hong Kong b Myanmar 2-0 (21-9 21-7)
Japan b Maldives 2-0 (21-13 21-7)
Indonesia b Laos 2-0 (21-6 21-4)
Kazakhstan b India 2-0 (21-15 21-9)
Quarter-finals
Thailand b Vietnam 2-0 (21-13 23-21)
Indonesia b Sri Lanka 2-0 (21-13 21-11)
Kazakhstan b Japan 2-1 (22-24 21-16 15-12)
China b Hong Kong 2-0 (21-6 21-13)
SUNDAY’S MATCH SCHEDULE
SEMI-FINALS
MEN
Center Court
09.50am: Thailand v Kazakhstan
Court Two
09.50am: Indonesia v Pakistan
WOMEN
Center Court
09.00am: Thailand v Indonesia
Court Two
09.00am: Kazakhstan v China
THIRD-PLACE PLAYOFFS
2.30pm: Men’s and Women’s
FINALS
3.05pm: Women’s Final
4.05pm: Men’s Final
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