Malaysian duo Beh Shun Thing/Luk Teck Eng will meet the Chinese
top seeds Tian Jia/ Wang Jie at women's beach volleyball event
Sunday after beating their Kazakh peers in straight sets on
Saturday.
Another Chinese duo Xue Chen/Zhang Xi will play the in-form
Heidi Ilustre/Diane Pascua of the Philippines on Sunday. The latter
upset Yelena Alekina/Marina Storozhenko from Kazakhstan 21-16,
11-21, 17-15.
The two Chinese pairs, ranked second and the third in the world
respectively, were in a sound condition, said Miao Zhihong, head
coach of China's beach volleyball team.
"We come here for championship and we are confident in Sunday's
match," said Miao.
Two Japanese teams, Chiaki Kusuhara/Satoko Urata, and Shinako
Tanaka/Eiko Koizumi, both cruised to an easy victories over their
young Iraqi and Mongolian peers respectively.
Thailand also enjoyed double success, with Kamoltip
Kulna/Jarunee Sannok, and Yupa Phokongploy/Usa Tenpaksee both
recording easy wins over their Sri Lankan and Hong Kong
opponents.
For the men's part, Omanis pair Ibrahim Al Farsi/Yaqoob Al
Maqbal will take on Chinese top seeds Wu Penggen/Xu Linyin on
Monday after their 21-14, 21-8 win over Maldivian peers Waheed
Fathuhulla/Mohamed Nadeem at the opener of beach volleyball
event.
The Filipino duo Parley Tupaz/Rhovyl Verayo will face the fourth
seeds Li Jiana/Zhou Shun from China in the second round after
beating another pair of Omanis Khalifa Al Jabri/Badar Al Subhi in
straight sets.
In another men's match of the day, Carder Bulla Aimed Al
Era/Osaka Ida Ali Man from Bahrain prevailed over their
Turkmenistan's opponents Mamed Batyrov/Dovletmurat Hallyyew in
identical score of 21-19, 21-19.
Twenty-three teams are competing in the men's tournament, with
the top nine seeds receiving a bye in the first round, while 14
women teams fight for champion with top two seeds absent from the
first round.
Four pairs of Chinese players are regarded as the gold favorites
after they wrapped up gold and silver medals for women's
competition and finished third in the men's event at the 2002 Busan
Asiad.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2006)