Ningbo, China, September 21, 2023 – 10 teams have booked berths in Top 16 after Day 3 of the 19th Asian Games Men’s Beach Volleyball Competition held here at Xiangshan Beach Volleyball Center.
Following a hard-fought three-setter win Wednesday, No. 1 seeds Abuduhalikejiang/Wu of China claimed a comfortable 2-0 (21-11, 21-12) victory Thursday afternoon against Ismail/Naseem of Maldives and thus secured the top spot from Pool A. The Maldives duo will challenge Garcia/Buytrago of Philippines Friday morning to decide the remaining berth from the Pool to the next elimination round of 16.
The host duo had a slow start before they invigorated themselves to score 5 points in a row, widening the gap from 9-7 to 14-7. With sharpened attacks and impenetrable blocks, China soon took down the set in 21-11 following a dip by Ha Likejiang/Mutailipu.
The second set was quite similar, seeing the host boost a 7-point run from 5-5 tie to a remarkable 12-5 lead. China kept on a hot hand and wrapped up the second set in 21-12.
In Pool D, No. 4 seeds Kaewsai/Jongklang of Thailand tasted their maiden victory after defeating Alnajjar/Alqishawi of Palestine in 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) and joined the undefeated Ashfiya/Akbar of Indonesia to the Top 16 from the pool. The winless Palestine duo have already, in fact, finished their journey in the 19th Asian Games.
In Pool E, No. 12 seeds Aldash/Gurin of Kazakhstan made their debut at the Games with a convincing 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) win against Qassiya/Alarqan of Palestine and sent the latter of winless record home together with their compatriots. Kazakhstan duo will fight against the host pair Wang/Li for the pool top spot Friday afternoon.
In Pool F, No. 6 seed Mahmoud/Nassim of Qatar showed no mercy to Cheong/Wong of Macao, China by a sweeping 2-0 (21-6, 21-5) win, while No. 11 seeds Pourasgari/Aghajanighasab of Iran kept winning streak following a 2-0 (21-11, 21-11) triumph over Lee/Kim of Korea.
Iran with a 3-0 record and Qatar with 2-1 thus secured their berths in Top 16, while Korea with a 1-2 record and Macao, China with 0-3 have to say goodbye to the tournament.
In Pool G, No. 10 seeds Bogatu/Yakovlev of Kazakhstan outgunned Kim/Bae of Korea with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-8) victory and topped the pool with an undefeated 3-0 record, while No. 7 seed Al-housni/Al Shereiqi of Oman also grabbed the other ticket to Top 16 as the pool second place with a 2-1 record following their 2-0 (21-11, 21-13) win over Correia/Valente of…
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