Xu and Zhang, current world No.3 and bronze medalists at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, took only 33 minutes in thrashing Lyudmila Issayeva and Inna Rakhmatulina of Kazakhstan 21-10, 21-12 in Pool A on Monday. The superb Chinese pairing, who captured three titles in this year’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour series, including the Paf Open in Finland and Sanya Open on home soil, finished on top in their opening encounter against the Kazakhs. The strongly-built Zhang overcame the smaller blockers with devastating spikes, while Xu produced several deceptive cross-court drops. “It’s great to win the first match here as it will be a big boost for us to win more matches,” Xu Chen, who partnered Zhang to win the Asian Championship in 2009 and 2010, said. “Actually, I have to stay patiently at the Athletes’ Village for two days and I felt it tough to wait for my first match when others in the Chinese team have won so many medals.” “We have been fully-prepared to make sure we put in outstanding performance. The following matches should be much smoother,” she added. “The Beach Volleyball venue here is a perfect one. The quality of sand meets standards of international venues we have played on.” Xu and Zhang take on Korea’s Lee Hyunjung and Lee Euna next. The duo who suffered a shocking 21-19, 17-21, 10-15 defeat to Hong Kong’s Kong Cheuk Yee and Tse Wing Hung on Sunday. However, as Xu and Zhang registered their win, second-seeds and current world No.29 Huang Ying and Yue Yuan fell victim to unseeded Luk Tech Hua and Beh Shun Thing in their Pool B encounter. The gallant Malaysians performed well beyond expectation to stun the formidable Chinese pair and the cheering home crowd at the venue with a magnificent come-from-behind 15-21, 21-17, 15-12 victory. “We lost because we made too many unforced mistakes,” Huang lamented after the loss. “I think we really did a good job from the beginning. I wanted to attack fast, but there are too many mistakes in serving which gave our rivals several chances of counter-attacking. I had known their styles. I’m sure we will play much better next time if we meet them again.” “I think we hadn’t prepared to deal with difficulties in the match,” Team-mate Yue added. “Our attack was good in the first set, but I changed my tactics in the following set and it did not work out well. However, the referee also made so many mistakes, with several line balls judged to be out of the line.” Despite the shock defeat, Huang and Yue still have a chance to make amends in the pool round-robin preliminaries. The Chinese duo will have a rest day on Tuesday before going up against Timor’s Leste’s Xavier FXL and Mariana dos Santos the following day. Thailand’s third-seeds Kamoltip Kulna and Yupa Phokrongploy also faced a similar fate as they were stunned by unseeded Urata Satoko and Nishibori Takemi of Japan in disappointing straight sets 21-16, 21-18. Meanwhile, the men’s preliminary round saw seventh-seeds Li Jian, who won gold in the previous Asian Games with partner Zhou Shun, and Guo Peng recover from their dismal start in the opening set to beat debutants Samath Vansak and Taing Mengheak of Cambodia 21-15, 21-10. “At the beginning, we were not in good condition, so the points were so close,” Li commented. “We have not played Cambodia before so we just did our best. I will try my all-out to defend my title.” “I felt a little nervous in the beginning, but just try to improve my condition,” Gao added. “To win gold here is not that easy as many strong rivals including Kazakhstan and Indonesia are also ready for tough task in these Asian Games. We have to get our best preparation and play our best in each match.” Fourth-seeds Sittichai Sangkhachote and Panupong Pollueang of Thailand found unseeded Qataris Ndir Ababacar Sadikh and Tareq Abdulhabib Abdulkhaleq too strong to go down in hard-fought three-set thriller 21-18, 16-21, 15-9. The pool round-robin preliminaries continues on Tuesday, with top-seeds and world No.4 Xu Linyin and Wu Penggen of China open their campaign against Yemen’s Aiman Al Katheri and Ashraf Omair. The Chinese duo will be looking to add a gold medal to their collection after winning silver at the previous Asian Games in Doha, Qatar four years ago. Monday’s results Men Pool D: Ndir Ababacar Sadikh/Tareq Abdulhabib Abdulkhaleq (Qatar) b Sittichai Sangkhachot/Teerapat Pollueang (Thailand) 2-1 (21-18 16-21 15-9); Paviz Farrokhi/Aghamohammad Salagh (Iran) b Haithman Al Shereiqi/Ahmed Al Housni (Oman) 2-0 (21-17 21-17) Pool E: Alexey Kuleshov/Dmitriy Yakovlev (Kazakhstan) b Kiran Kumar Meda/Kasi Viswanadha Raju Mudunuri (India) 2-1 (21-12 20-22 17-15); Khoo Chong Long/Nordin Rafi Asruki (Malaysia) b Mon Rom/Nget Sothearith (Cambodia) 2-0 (21-16 21-18) Pool G: Gao Peng/Li Jian (China) b Samath Vansak/Taing Mengheak (Cambodia) 2-0 (21-15 21-10); Reza Assari Naeini/Rahman Raoufi (Iran) b Soares FC/Xavier NDF (Timor-Leste) 2-0 (21-9 21-13) Women Pool A: Xue Chen/Zhang Xi (China) b Lyudmila Issayeva/Inna Rakhmatulina 2-0 (21-10 21-12); Kong Cheuk Yee/Tse Wing Hung (Hong Kong) b Lee Euna/Lee Hyunjung (R.O. Korea) 2-1 (19-21 21-17 15-10) Pool B: Luk Techk Hua/Beh Shun Thing (Malaysia) b Huang Ying/Yue Yuan (China) 2-1 (15-21 21-17 15-12).; Tanaka Shinako/Mizoe Sayaka (Japan) b Xavier FXL/Mariana dos Santos (Timor-Leste) 2-0 (21-7 21-10) Pool C: Urata Satoko/Takemi Nishibori (Japan) b Yupa Phokrongploy/Kamoltip Kulna (Thailand) 21-16 21-18; Kou Nai Han/Chang Hui Min (Chinese Taipei) b Nirosha GHL/Leena PPSS (Sri Lanka) 21-7 21-7 | |
