Chinese Ha/Wu and Japanese Akiko/Yurika hope to end up with one step better than last year
Songkla, Thailand, April 16, 2023 – Thailand’s top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovalo set up the eagerly-awaited men’s final showdown with Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin, looking to avenge the loss at the recent Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Coolangatta, Australia to the Chinese second seeds, as Chinese Dong Jie/Wang Fan will fight it out with Japanese second seeds Akiko Hasegawa/Yurika Sakaguchi for the women’s crown in the “Est Cola” AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open on Monday.
Ha and Wu
Akiko and Yurika
Excitement at the Samila Beach competition venues has reached fever pitch on Sunday when qualified teams came out in full force to keep their high hopes of advancing to the final round alive.
In the action-packed men’s quarterfinals in the Sunday morning, Chinese Ha and Wu, who last month captured the men’s title at the season’s first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event at Mount Maunganui Beach, the first-ever world-level tournament hosted by New Zealand, produced a comeback 18-21, 21-17, 15-10 win against Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu, bronze medallists at the last April’s Beach Volleyball World Tour SMM Pak Bara Beach in Satun, Thailand.
Formidable Ha, 30, and Wu, 29, remained on course as the Chinese veterans powered past Kiwis Bradley Fuller/Alani Nicklin 21-16, 21-19 in the semifinals to book a spot in the men’s final clash, in which they will take on old foes Pithak and Poravid in the Coolangatta Futures final rematch on Monday.
Early this month, Ha and Wu claimed gold in Coolangatta, Australia following their sensational 2-0 victory against Thais Pithak and Poravid in the final showdown for their third back-to-back Futures gold after topping the podiums in Sohar, Oman and New Zealand.
Promising Pithak, 24, and Poravid, 21, who have already made the podium for the first time last December with gold medal at the Subic Bay Futures in the Philippines, struggled to beat Chinese Li Zhuoxin/Liu Chuanyong in closely-contested three-setter 18-21, 21-18, 15-9 in the quarterfinals.
Pithak and Poravid caused a sensation in the semifinals later in the afternoon when the Thai duo pulled off a surprise 21-16, 21-18 win against 2018 Asian Games bronze medallists Pribadi Danangsyah/Ramadhan Gilang from Indonesia.
In the quarterfinals earlier, Danangsyah and Gilang had a difficult encounter against Banlue Nakprakhong/Intuch Techakijvorakul as the Indonesians spent exhausting 55 minutes in posting a terrific comeback 18-21, 21-17, 15-13 triumph over the Thai duo.
New Zealanders Fuller and Nicklin also came from behind to beat Thailand’s third seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai 16-21, 21-19, 15-13 in 51 minutes.
In the women’s event, Thailand’s top seeds Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Rumpaipruet Numwong saw off Japanese Asami Shiba/Saki Maruyama 21-12, 23-21 in the quarterfinals.
However, the Thais could not maintain their superb form in the afternoon semifinals to go down tamely 15-21, 13-21 to Dong Jie and Wang Fan.
The Chinese fourth seeds performed brilliantly in the quarterfinal match earlier to narrowly edge past Australian fifth seeds Georgia Johnson and Jasmine Fleming 21-19, 21-18. It was the Aussies’ first season together as teammates and they have already claimed gold medal earlier this year at the first Australia National Tour event in Canberra.
Meanwhile, Chinese Dong Jie and Wang Fan will next challenge Akiko Hasegawa and Yurika Sakaguchi in the Monday’s final clash.
The Japanese second seeds had a good run on Sunday, beating Australians Nicole Laird/Brittany Kendall 24-22, 21-16 in the quarterfinals to outperform Vanuatu’s Majabelle Lawac/Sherysyn Toko 21-18, 21-18 in the semifinal clash later in the afternoon.
Lawac and Toko, the bronze medallists at the Coolangatta Futures early this month, upset the Chinese third seeds Wang Xinxin and Zhu Lingdi in hard-fought three-setter 21-15, 13-21, 16-14 in the quarterfinals earlier.
On Monday, the final day of the AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open, Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Rumpaipruet Numwong will fight for bronze medal in the women’s third-place playoff match against Vanuatu’s Majabelle Lawac/Sherysyn Toko at 1pm local time, followed by the men’s bronze medal match between Pribadi Danangsyah/Ramadhan Gilang from Indonesia and New Zealanders Bradley Fuller/Alani Nicklin at 2pm.
The men’s final match at 3pm sees Thailand’s top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovalo challenge Chinese Ha Likejiang and Wu Jiaxin, who aimed to go one step further than last year when they picked up silver medal at the 2022 AVC Beach Tour Samila Open here following a letdown to Australians Thomas Hodges/Zachery Schubert in the showdown.
In the women’s final clash at 4pm, Chinese Dong Jie and Wang Fan will take on second seeds Akiko Hasegawa and Yurika Sakaguchi. The Japanese duo has sights firmly set to make a successful comeback this time. At the last year’s edition here, they claimed silver medal after a disappointing loss to eventual winners Thailand’s Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee/Taravadee Naraphornrapat in the gold-medal match.
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