Vanuatu takes out Khanom-Chang Asian Beach Volleyball Tour

Qatar and Vanuatu

stamped their authority over the 5th Khanom-Chang Asian Beach Volleyball Tour at Nadan Beach here on Friday, with Qataris Tiago De J Santos/Pereira Santos taking the men’s title after a hard-fought three-set win over Kazakhs Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko.

The women’s honour went to talented Elwin Pata/Iatika Henriette of Vanuatu, who defied against all odds to stun Australia 1’s Nicole Laird/Mariafe Artacho with a magnificent come-from-behind 2-1 (13-21 21-12 15-11) victory in 46 minutes.

In the men’s final on Friday, Qatar 1’s Tiago De J Santos/Pereira Santos set up a daunting clash against Dyachenko/Sidorenko of Kazakhstan 1, who won the 2012 edition. After the opening-set loss 18-21, the Qataris turned up heat on a tough fight against the Kazakhs to win the next two sets 21-19 15-12 and the gruelling 61-minute showdown.

The third place went to Kazakhstan 2’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Alexey Kuleshov after producing a nail-biting 15-21 21-19 15-13 win over Iran 1’s R. Raoufi/B.Salemi.

In the semi-finals earlier, Kazakhstan 1’s Dyachenko/Sidorenko beat Iran 1’s R Raoufi/B. Salemi 19-21 21-13 15-11. With the victory, Dyachenko/Sidorenko advanced to the final round, making a step closer to retaining their pride lost in the last year’s showdown against Aussies Leonard Isaac Kapa/Christopher Bernard McHugin. However, the Kazakh duo’s sweet dreams turned out to a nightmare following their stunning loss to Qatar 1 in the showdown.

The other semi-final encounter saw Qatar 1’s Tiago De J Santos/Pereira Santos power past Kazakhstan 2’s Yakovlev/Kuleshov 21-18 21-14.

Contesting the quarter-finals on the same day earlier, Kazakhstan 1’s Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko brushed off Indonesia 1’s Koko Prasetyo Darkkuncoro/Ade Candra Rahmawan, winners at the 2012 Asian Beach Games in China, in comfortable straight sets 21-15 21-17.

Elsewhere, Iran 1’s R. Raoufi/B Salembi made a successful comeback after losing the first set 23-25 to Australia 2’s Joshua Court /Damien Schumann to win the remaining two sets 21-14 15-13, while Qatar 1’s Tiago De J Santos/Pereira Santos challenged P. Farrokhi/A. Salagh seriously to beat the Iran 2’s tandem 19-21 21-13 15-12 and Kazakhstan 2’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Alexey Kuleshov downed New Zealand 2’s Samuel O’dea/Michael Watson 21-7 21-16.

In the women’s event, Vanuatu’s Pata/Iatika succumbed the easy first set defeat 13-21 at the hands of Australia 1’s Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird, but they bounced back mightily to take the remaining two sets 21-12 15-11 and the 46-minute championship match.

The third place was won by Kazakhstan 1’s Tatyana Mashkova/Irina Tsimbalova, who entirely smashed Thai dreams following the 16-21 21-13 16-14 win in the hotly-contested showdown against Thailand 1’s Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee.

The semi-finals earlier saw Australia 1’s Laird/Artacho stunned the 2012 Asian Beach Games gold medallists Udomchavee/Radarong of Thailand 1 22-20 21-15, with Vanuatu’s Pata/Iatika beating Kazakhstan 1’s Mashkova/Tsimbalova in hard-fought three-set thriller 15-21 21-17 15-12 in 53 minutes.

On Saturday, all the participating players will move to Songkhla province, around 280km far from the Khanom site, for their continuing battle in the 15th Samila-Chang Asian Beach Volleyball Tour between April 14 to 16. Sunday, April 13, will be Songkran Day or the Water Sparkling Festival in Thailand. All the players will be invited to join a festival-celebration march around the city for the fun-packed water splashing festival. The preliminaries of the Samila meet will kick off on April 14.

-AVC