Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei, August 24, 2024 – Thailand’s top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato became the first pairing to reach the men’s quarterfinals of the double-gender “Taichung Bank” AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open at Dayuan Beach Volleyball Court here on Saturday, as three teams apiece from Australia and Thailand advanced to the women’s quarterfinals.
The pool play in both men’s and women’s event of the four-day tournament came to a close on Saturday, with every team standing a chance to contest the single elimination. However, in the men’s event, three pools – B, C and D had four teams each and Pool A featured only three teams. The top pairing in Pool A will, therefore, make the cut for the quarterfinals, while the remaining 14 teams will have to first contest the second round.
On Saturday, three teams in Pool A were tied with similar 5 points from two wins against one loss. However, with points ratio taken into consideration, Thailand’s top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato fared well to have the best points ratio to finish atop Pool A. Kiwis David Vukets Gregory/John McManaway came in second place, with Japan’s Yusuke Ishijima/Kensuke Shoji in third position. As a result, Pithak/Poravid became the first lucky team to advance to the quarterfinals.
Pithak/Poravid, who picked up silver medal at the last month’s Tianjin Open, succumbed to 0-2 (18-21, 19-21) to Kiwis Vukets/McManaway in their last pool play match on Saturday.
In Pool B, Philippines’ 10th seeds Abdilla Alnakran/Rancel Varga defied against all odds to win three matches to top the pool with 6 points from three straight victories, followed respectively by Australia’s second seeds Jack Pearse/D’Artagnan Potts, Japan’s seventh seeds Dylan Kurokawa/Kosuke Fukushima and Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Ya-Jen/Wang Chin-Ju.
The Aussies struggled to beat Japan’s Dylan/Fukushima 2-0 (21-18, 28-26) in their last Pool B encounter on Saturday, while Abdilla/Varga from Philippines stunned Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Ya-Jen/Wang Chin-Ju 2-0 (21-12, 21-11) on Saturday.
Iran’s sixth seeds Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab, who are in quest of the third title of the year following the success in the first two tournaments in the Nuvali Open in City of Santa Rosa in Philippines this April and Tianjin Open in July, topped Pool C with 6 points from three straight wins without dropping a set to their respective opponents.
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