Tianjin, China, July 12, 2024 – Excitement has reached fever pitch in the AVC Beach Tour Tianjin Open at Dongjiang Gulf Beach, Binhai here as qualified teams are ready to lock horns in intense round of 16 on Saturday morning to squeeze into the quarterfinals later in the afternoon.
China had four teams advancing to round of 16 in the men’s event, followed by Thailand and Australia with three teams apiece. The remaining two teams each came from Oman, Iran and Japan. The host country also had four teams qualifying for the round of 16 in the women’s event, while three teams each came from Thailand, Australia and Japan. Hong Kong, China had two teams and Singapore one.
In the women’s pool play on Friday, top seeds Akiko Hasegawa/Miki Ishii from Japan, who were instrumental in lifting Japan’s 2-1 victory against hosts China in the AVC Continental Cup Finals to secure a place in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, had mixed fortunes as they suffered their first loss at the hands of China’s eighth seeds Wang Fan/Bai Bing in exhausting three sets 18-21, 21-11, 12-15.
However, the Japanese made amends by beating Australia’s ninth seeds Jasmine Royner/Kayla Mears 2-0 (22-20, 21-18).
Chinese Wang Fan/Bai Bing, who also brushed off Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong/Veeradakittikarn Wirakornkhayatimart 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) on Friday, topped Pool A with 6 points from a perfect sweep of three matches.
Japanese Akiko Hasegawa/Miki Ishii from Japan finished second with 5 points from two wins against one loss, while Australians Jasmine Rayner/Kayla Mears had 3 points from one win against two losses and winless Rumpaipruet and Veeradakittikarn from Thailand lost all three matches to have no point earned to finish third and fourth places respectively.
In Pool B, Australia’s second seeds Stafanie Fejes/Georgia Johnson, who captured gold medal at this year’s Samila Open in Thailand, had two wins on Friday, outplaying Chinese Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli 2-0 (22-20, 21-10) and beating Japan’s 10th seeds Riko Tsujimura/Takemi Nishibori 2-0 (21-16, 21-17)
Pool B was dominated by Australians Stefanie/Johnson with 6 points from three straight wins, while Chinese Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli finished second with 4 points from two wins against one loss. Japanese Riko Tsujimura/Takemi Nishibori and Hong Kong, China’s Wong Man Ching/Tsang Ngok Ling came in third and fourth places respectively.
In Pool C, China’s 11th seeds Wang Xinxin/Xing Jiayi remained unbeaten with 6 points…
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