Roi Et, Thailand, April 28, 2024 – Hosts Thailand grabbed top honours in both men’s and women’s events at the 2024 South East Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships at Ban Nong Ya Ma Community School Courts here on Sunday, with Rueangrit Wiromrat/Suranath Ratanapolsaen producing epic comeback win against Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Long/Danh Chanh Sa May to claim men’s title and Varagkhana Sogalee/Somruedee Koedkaew winning the all-Thais showdown for the women’s crown.
Thailand’s Rueangrit Wiromrat/Suranath Ratanapolsaen top men’s podium
Thailand sweep women’s podium
A total of 11 men’s and 8 women’s teams from five countries consisting of Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand took part in the four-day tournament, which started on April 25 and served as a springboard for the further competition in the 5th Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships, due to take place at the same venue here between May 1 and 5.
The championships, hosted by Southeast Asia Volleyball Association (SAVA) in conjunction with Thailand Volleyball Association and sanctioned by AVC, saw teams divided into two pools of four teams apiece in the women’s event. In the men’s division, teams were split into Pool A with six teams and Pool B with five teams. In both men’s and women’s events, teams played pool round-robin preliminaries, with top four teams from each pool advancing to the elimination round comprising quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
In the men’s event, Thailand’s ninth seeds Rueangrit/Suranath topped Pool A at the end of the pool play on Friday, with another Thai pairing, second seeds Big Manyahong/Aphichat Thonghin, taking the top spot in Pool B.
After the Saturday’s knockout quarterfinals, three Thai pairings powered their ways into the Sunday morning’s much-anticipated semifinals. Also joining the fray were Vietnam’s 10th seeds Nguyen Hoang Long/Danh Chanh Sa May.
The semifinals turned out to be hard-fought encounters, with Rueangrit/Suranath struggling to beat fellow eighth seeds Chalermkeat Yangdee/Teeraphat Patang in tie-break 21-17, 20-22, 15-3 and the Vietnamese duo stealing the show, coming from behind to beat Thailand’s Big/Aphichat 17-21, 21-15, 15-12.
In the thrilling final showdown against Thailand’s Rueangrit/Suranath, Nguyen Hoang Long/Danh Chanh Sa May still proved a tough nut to crack, initially taking the first set 21-19. However, the host side bounced back bravely to win the closely-contested second…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…