Top seeds Pithak/Poravid are among two Thai pairings to get through to men’s semifinals
Two Thai pairings including top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato overcame scorching heat at the world-class Nuvali Sand Courts by Ayala Land to power their way into the men’s semifinals of the “Smart” AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in Philippines’ City of Santa Rosa, with top four seeds, two teams apiece from Australia and Japan, set to lock horns in women’s semifinal encounters.
The temperature on a Summer Saturday at the competition venue surged up to 33 degrees Celsius, making it generally more uncomfortable for players and court officials alike. However, the energy-sapping heat failed to dampen top teams’ enthusiasm and determination to win their tough matches for their semifinal slots.
In the men’s quarterfinals on Saturday, Thailand’s gold-medal hopefuls Pithak, 25, and Poravid, 23, lived up to their top seeds status. The last year’s Asian Championships bronze medallists in Fuzhou, China survived a huge scare from formidable Akbar Bintang/Efendi Sofyan to narrowly edge past the Indonesian 15th seeds with tie-break win 21-18, 19-21, 15-13.
The Thai duo, who had claimed their first Beach Pro Tour medal in 2022 with a Subic Bay Futures gold in Philippines, will next battle it out with Ben Hood/D’Artagnan Potts in the Sunday morning’s semifinals. The Australian fourth seeds, who took silver at the last month’s BPT Futures Mt Maunganui in New Zealand, struggled to beat Japan’s sixth seeds Yusuke Ishijima Gottsu/Kensuke Shoji 21-19, 18-21, 15-11 in exhausting 53 minutes in the quarterfinals.
Pithak and Poravid did it in memorable fashion earlier in the morning round of 16, showcasing their prowess with swift counter-attacks and efficient blocks in a see-saw affair against Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Sergey Bogatu, who claimed bronze at the last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games in China, to pull off an incredible win in epic tiebreak 29-27, 17-21, 16-14.
Unlike the Thai duo, Australians Hood/Potts had an easier job in round of 16 to cruise past Japan’s ninth seeds Dylan Hiroki Kurokawa/Kosuke Fukushima 2-0 (21-18, 21-9) in 36 minutes.
Another Thai pairing, Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai, who finished a well-earned fifth place at last year’s BPT Futures Wenzhou Cangnan in China and AVC Beach Tour Penghu Open in Chinese Taipei, made their country proud with tiebreak win 21-18, 15-21, 15-12 in their strenuous quarterfinal clash…
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