Vietnam, fresh from beating Laos and Timor-Leste in the men’s event, made it three in a row on Friday after 2-0 demolition of hosts Cambodia to move atop Pool A in the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games Beach Volleyball Tournament, which serves as the AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Phase 1 Southeastern Zone, at Otres Beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Nguyen Lam Toi/Quang Vu Tran handed Vietnam the first win as they overcame a strong challenge from Thy Menghuong/Chuk Sophea 22-20, 21-17 in grueling 49 minutes and Nguyen Thuyen/Van Nha Nguyen denied the Cambodia’s comeback in the second match when they brushed off Sophon Pich/Oem Narit 21-14, 21-16 for the Vietnam’s eventual 2-0 win against the host side.
Vietnam had 9 points from straight three wins to stay atop Pool A, followed by Philippines with 5 points from two wins in a row. Timor-Leste collected 3 points from one win against two losses to come in third place, while hosts Cambodia and Laos have yet won a match to get no point.
After convincing 2-0 win against Timor-Leste on Thursday, Philippines struggled to beat hosts Cambodia the following day. Thy Menghuong/Chuk Sophea stunned Filipinos Abdilla Alnakran/Requinton Jaron in hard-fought three-set thriller 21-19, 14-21, 16-14 to put the host side in front 1-0.
However, Garcia Jude/Buytrago James gave Philippines a successful comeback. The superb duo produced a terrific come-from-behind 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-12) win against Cambodians Sophon Pich/Oem Narit to level it at 1-1. Garcia/Buytrago remained in superb form to edge past Thy Menghuong/Oem Narit 2-0 (23-21, 21-17) in the Golden Match for the Philippines’ eventual 2-1 win.
Timor-Leste recovered from the first-day setback with two losses in a row on Thursday to bounce back for an impressive 2-0 win against Laos. Correia Fabricius Da Cruz/Valente Joel Savio won the first match 22-20, 21-13 against Laotians Saykhammoun Lid/Sanyalack Khampiene and Fernandes Xavier Inocencio/Freitas Jonio Martinho fought back to beat Cjhanthongdeng Chansabab/Phommachan Bounmixay 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-10) to hand Timor-Leste the first victory in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia.
In Pool B, Singapore, which suffered 0-2 loss to Thailand on Thursday, regained the lost pride to beat Malaysia 2-1 on Friday. Goh Teng Kuan Melvin /Tan Trevis lost a daunting match against Malaysians Kai Xu Looi/Wei Chun Ler 1-2 (21-14, 18-21, 9-15). However, Tay Kingsley/Shen Fan Yang Mark revived the…
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