Songkhla, Thailand, April 14, 2023 – Strong teams made solid starts at the “Est Cola” AVC Beach Volleyball Tour 22nd Samila Open to pull of comfortable wins against lower-ranked opponents in their pool plays on Samila Beach here on Friday, as Thailand’s Nuttanon Inkiew/Netitorn Muneekul enjoyed mixed fortunes on the action-packed Day 1 after their stunning win against Australian fifth seeds and a letdown to Indonesian veterans.
In the men’s event, all four men’s teams made the host nation proud after registering first wins in their respective pools. Thailand’s top seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, who had captured gold medal at the Subic Bay Futures in the Philippines last December, breezed past Hong Kong, China’s Wong Kayun/Tse Kinwang 21-14, 21-8 in Pool A and will next take on Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gurin/Nurdos Aldash in their second match on Saturday to fight for the top spot in Pool A.
Like the Thai duo, Gurin and Aldash have already beaten the Hong Kong, China’s pairing 21-15, 21-18. With only top two teams from each pool through, the Thai and Kazakh duos are guaranteed berths for the round of last 16. Their Saturday’s match will decide the eventual Pool A winners.
Another Thai tandem, third seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai, also got off to a strong start with 21-15, 21-17 win against the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ Andrew Johnson/Logan Mister in Pool C, while fourth seeds Banlue Nakprakhong/Intuch Techakijvorakul of Thailand spent 32 minutes in outplaying Malaysians Ler Meichun/Looi Kaixu 21-14, 21-10 in Pool D.
Thailand’s Nuttanon, who formerly teamed up with Intuch Techakijvorakul to claim two FIVB World Tour one-star events in 2018 on home soil in Satun and 2019 in Bandar Torkaman in Iran, made a successful comeback after his announcement for retirement earlier.
Contesting Pool E, Nuttanon partnered Netitorn to stun Australia’s fifth seeds James Takken/Solomon Bushby, fourth place at the last month’s Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Wollongong, 21-13, 21-17 in the morning match. However, the Thai duo unfortunately could not maintain their fine form and went down 12-21, 18-21 to Indonesian 12th seeds Danangsyah Pribadi/Gilang Ramadhan, bronze medallists at the 2018 Asian Games beach volleyball competition on their home soil in Palembang.
Two Chinese duos, second seeds Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin and ninth seeds Li Zhuoxin/Liu Chuanyong, made their mark on the opening day…
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