AUSSIES DOMINATE THRILL-PACKED DAY 2 OF 2024 ASIAN SENIOR BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Santa Rosa, Philippines, November 7, 2024 – All Australian groups advanced to Round of 16 of the action-packed Day 2 of the 2024 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships at Nuvali Sand Courts on Thursday, as Thailand’s 4th seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato and Vanuatu’s ninth seeds Sherysyn Toko/Majabelle Lawac bailed out of the double-gender competitors.

The swimming pool round-robin preliminaries of males’s and females’s occasions ended on Thursday, with just leading 3 groups from each swimming pool protecting their locations in Round of 18 and Round of 16.

In the males’s competitors, Iran’s 12th seeds Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab, Australia’s 2nd seeds Thomas Hodges/Zachery Schubert, Australia’s 3rd seeds D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse, Indonesia’s 8th seeds Bintang Akbar/Efendi Sofyan Rachman and Thailand’s seventh seeds Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha made a tidy sweep with 3 matches in a row to top Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, Pool E and Pool F respectively. Pool D was controlled by Australia’s 16th seeds Joshua Howat/Luke Ryan, who declared 2 wins versus one loss.

Among those who did not make the cut for Round of 18 were Thailand’s 4th seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, who got bronze medal at the previous edition in 2015 in Fuzhou, China and gold medallists at the AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open in Chinese Taipei early this year.

Pithak and Poravid lost all matches in Pool D. After decreasing 1-2 to Kazakhstan’s qualifiers Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu on Wednesday, the Thai duo caught 2 losses in a row on Thursday. They lost 21-23, 14-21 to Australians Joshua Howat/Luke Ryan.

The Thais dealt with the comparable fate in the day’s 2nd encounter versus Takahashi Takumi/Ikeda Jumpei, decreasing 18-21, 17-21 to the Japanese tandem to ultimately crash out of the competitors.

Australia’s front runners and 2024 Mollymook Futures champs Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher, fresh from 2-0 demolition of China’s Song Jinyang/Zhang Tai on Wednesday, had actually blended fortunes in Pool A on Thursday, pounding Japanese Malki Nassim/Kosuke Fukushima 21-16, 16-21, 15-6 in the day’s very first match.

The Australian duo, nevertheless, lost 22-24, 18-21 in a well-fought fight versus Iranians Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab in their 2nd encounter.

In Pool B, Aussies D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse, who destroyed Iranian qualifiers Salemiinjehboroun Bahman/Khakizadeh Abolhassan 2-0 on Wednesday, stayed in extraordinary type to take both matches on Thursday, locking out Thailand’s Surin Jongklang/Kittituch Khomkham 21-17, 21-19.

The Aussies later on rejected Kiwis Juraj Krajci/John McManaway 21-16, 21-17 to end their preliminary project without losing a set to their particular challengers.

Thailand’s Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha likewise made their mark in the preliminaries to complete unbeaten without dropping an embeded in Pool F. After 2-0 triumph versus Japanese Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Dylan Hiroki Kurokawa on Wednesday, the Thai matching continued their exceptional work on Thursday to beat Kiwis Alani Nicklin/Thomas Hartles 21-19, 23-21 and got a walkover in their 2nd match since their challengers from hosts Philippines, Abdilla Alnakran/James Buytrago, sustained an injury.

In-type Akbar Bintang/Efendi Sofyan Rachman were likewise unstoppable in Pool E. The Indonesian duo powered previous Iranians GhalehNovi AmirAli/AkbarzadehKashani Habib 2-0 on Wednesday and showed well they are a strong group to be considered in the champions as they beat Omanis Mazin Alhashmi/Al Jalaboubi Hood 21-17, 21-17.

The Indonesians later on managed a spectacular return 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-8) triumph versus Chinese veterans Wu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang, who declared 3 successive gold medals on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures in 2023 consisting of Sohar in Oman, Mount Maunganui in New Zealand and Coolangatta Futures in Australia.

In the males’s Round of 18 on Friday, Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Dylan Hiroki Kurokawa will fight it out with Malki Nassim/Kosuke Fukushima in the all-Japanese affair, with Thailand’s Surin Jongklang/Kittituch Khomkham taking on Iranians GhalehNovi AmirAli/AkbarzadehKashani Habib.

Meanwhile, the females’s occasion saw Vanuatu’s Sherysyn Toko/Majabelle Lawac, who won the Division One Final of the Australia Beach Volleyball Tour in 2023, end up being the first string with greatest seeding to bid goodbye to the champion in Philippines.

Tournament ninth seeds Toko/Lawac lost 1-2 in their opening match versus Thailand’s Salinda Mungkhon/Somruedee Koedkaew in Pool D on Wednesday. The Vanuatu’s duo strove to rebound on Thursday, however still discovered it a difficult objective as they were quickly beaten 8-21, 14-21 by Japanese Ren Matsumoto/Non Matsumoto and lost another comfy match, 10-21, 17-21, to China’s 4th seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin.

China’s front runners Wang Jingzhe/Xia Xinyi, Australia’s 2nd seeds Jana Milutinovic/Stefanie Fejes, Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert, China’s 4th seeds Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin and Japan’s seventh seeds Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama caught the leading area in particular Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, Pool D and Pool F, all of them without dropping a single set. Australia’s 8th seeds Jasmine Fleming/Elizabeth Alchin topped Pool E with 2 wins versus one loss.

On Friday, Japan’s Kana Motomura/Nayu Motomura will handle Filipinas Eslapor Genesa Jane/Orillaneda Mary Klymince and Kazakhstan’s Laura Kabulbekova/Nadezhda Ivanchenko will combat it out versus Thailand’s Salinda Mungkhon/Somruedee Koedkaew in Round of 18.

The other highlights in females’s Round of 16 on Friday can be anticipated from much-anticipated matches in between Alisha Stevens/Cameron Zajer and Jasmine Fleming/Elizabeth Alchin in the all-Australians fight, Thailand’s Tanarattha Udomchavee/Rumpaipruet Numwong versus China’s Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli, China’s Xue Chen/Zeng Jinjin versus Philippines’ Progella Khylem Harl/Pagara Sofiah Shanine and Indonesia’s Desi Ratnassari/Nur Sari Atika versus Japan’s Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama.