Songkhla, Thailand, September 23, 2022 – Top seeds Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee/Taravadee Naraphornrapat set up tough clash against fourth seeds Alisha Stevens/Georgia Johnson and third seeds Nicole Laird/Phoebe Bell face off with second seeds Akiko Hasegawa/Yurika Sakaguchi in the Saturday’s semifinals of the AVC Beach Tour 21st Samila Open at Samila Beach here.
Two teams from Australia and one team apiece from hosts Thailand and Japan secured their semifinal spots after their convincing victories in the action-packed quarterfinals on Friday.
Australians Stevens and Johnson stopped the unbeaten run of Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert./Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn to stun the Thai duo 21-18, 21-17 in their last Pool D match in the Friday morning and went on their superb form to beat Indonesians Juliana Dhita/Eka Yokebed 21-15, 21-17 in the afternoon for a place in the semifinals. The Australian du are due to challenge Thais Worapeerachayakorn/Taravadee, who also picked up bronze medal at the recent Roi Et Open.
The 2021 Asian champions Worapeerachayakorn and Taravadee spent 33 minutes in overcoming Hong Kong China’s Koo Yungyung/Au Yeung Waiyan 21-11, 21-12 in their last preliminary Pool A match.
The superb Thai duo later powered past Filipinas Cherry Ann Rondina/Bernadeth Pons 21-19, 21-14 in the quarterfinals to storm their way into the Saturday’s semifinals.
Australians Laird and Bell also made their mark in the pool plays after brushing off Thailand’s Suchinna Choemphun/Apinya Saengpaeng 21-16, 21-16 to top Pool C.
The in-form Australians continued their unbeaten streak following their 21-13, 21-18 rout of Filipinas Floremei Rodriguez/Genesa Jane Eslapor in the quarterfinals.
In the Saturday’s semifinals, Laird and Bell will be pitted against Akiko/Yurika.
The formidable Japanese on Friday proved too hot to handle for Rondina/Pons to demolish the Filipinas 21-13, 21-19 to capture the top spot in Pool B.
Thailand Volleyball Association President Mr Somporn Chaibangyang also turns out to watch the matches on Friday
Akiko and Yurika maintained their solid performance to pull off a comfortable 21-10, 21-13 win against Thailand’s Woranatchayakorn and Charanrutwadee in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, top five seeds topped their respective Pools (A, B, C, D, E) and eighth seeds Ahmed Alhousni/Alshereiqi Haitham of Oman maintained their top spot in Pool H after completion of the pool round-robin preliminaries.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…