Team China suffered a blow at the opening day of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships held in Shangluo, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, as three pairs of Team China were eliminated from the preliminaries on Tuesday.

After sailing through the first round, Chinese men's pair Yu Yao/Xu Minyue set up a clash against Italians Laurin Zoeschg and Matteo Lurisci in the second round.

Yu/Xu won the first set 21-12. However, the Italian duo levelled up the score with 21-15.

In the third set, the volleyballers of Italy showed off their better skills on the net, winning the decider 17-15.

"I am satisfied with the result. Italy is a traditional beach volleyball powerhouse of the world. And I have shown all I had," said Xu.

In women's competition, Lin Jiaying/Zhang Jiabei suffered a 21-19, 21-12 defeat against Ronni Rivka Lavie/Daniela Gonzalez from Israel in the first rond while Wang Jiaying/Wu Zihan were stopped by Latvia's Monika Mamaja and Paula Krieva 21-19, 21-11 in the second round.

A total of 116 teams from 53 countries and regions are taking part in the six-day event.