Aussies did not make the cut in men’s quarterfinals, while Chinese men’s and women’s players keep the flag flying
Songkla, Thailand, April 15, 2023 – Home and Chinese players overcame the scorching heat and strong opponents to rule the roost in the men’s event, as two women’s teams apiece from China, Japan and Australia secured their quarterfinal berths in the AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open on Saturday
As Thailand braced for heatwave with temperatures in southern provinces including Songkla soaring to between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday, participating teams put utmost efforts with the aim of squeezing into the quarterfinals. Strong teams advanced, while some other lower-ranked sides unfortunately crashed out of the competition.
In the men’s event, three home teams lived up to all expectations to enter the quarterfinals. Top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato topped Pool A following their comeback 18-21, 21-16, 15-11 win against Kazakhs Kirill Gurin/Nurdos Aldash in the pool round-robin preliminaries. The Thai duo, who last December had captured gold medal at the Subic Bay Futures in the Philippines, continued their remarkable unbeaten run to cruise past Netitorn Muneekul/Nuttanon Inkiew 21-14, 21-13 in the all-Thais round of last 16 to book a quarterfinal berth.
Also through to the Sunday’s quarterfinals were Thailand’s third seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai, who came from behind to beat Indonesians Mohammad Ashfiya/Yosi Firnanda 22-24, 21-19, 15-10 in grueling 58 minutes for the top spot in Pool C. The Thai tandem remained undefeated after an upset 21-19, 21-19 win in their tough round of 16 match against Japanese Shoji Kensuke/Ikeda Jumpei.
In-form Banlue Nakprakhong/Intuch Techakijvorakul also made the host country proud after stunning Aussies Garang Anyang/D’ artagnan Potts 21-18, 22-20 to go atop Pool D and advance to the round of 16, which they narrowly edged out Japanese Kai Kurokawa/Kosuke Fukushima 21-19, 24-22 for a place in the quarterfinals.
Two Chinese teams also performed brilliantly on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals. Second seeds Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin topped Pool B after crushing Kiwis Giles Black/John McManaway 21-11, 21-17 in their last preliminary match and went on their awesome form to brush off Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gurin/Nurdos Aldash 21-10, 21-16 in the round of last 16.
Ha and Wu early this month claimed gold medal in Coolangatta, Australia following their solid 2-0…
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