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Beach volleyball 31/10/2013

Thailand’s Radarong/Udomchavee through to Phuket Open knock-outs

Phuket, Thailand, October 31, 2013 – Thailand's favourites Varapatsorn
Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee are through to the knock-out stage taking
two wins in Pool A, at the 2013 FIVB Beach
Volleyball Phuket Open on Thursday. Thailand has hosted
over 10 women’s and one men’s FIVB tournament and the Open is back for an
eighth consecutive year.

Despite losing their final pool match to Dutch pair Rimke
Braakman and Jantine van der Vlist who have yet to drop a match in Phuket, the
Thai pair take second spot in the pool and progress through to Friday. The
match was caught in the second huge downpour of the day causing problems for
both teams, but the Dutch team remained in control and took the win 2-0 (21-15, 21-18).

Top
ten hopes

Radarong/Udomchavee professed hopes of a top ten finish
entering Phuket following their best ever result, a fifth place at the Anapa
Open this year. The Thai team realise
they have a challenge on their hands and are up against the world’s best in
Phuket.

“We are pleased, but we are not that happy with our
performance today and this is the first time that we have progressed to the
next round here in the world tour,” said Udomchavee.

To get into the top ten we will need to improve a lot,
but we are very proud of ourselves today. We have developed a lot this year to
get where we are now.”

“I’m happy, but we need to improve on our performance a
lot, especially with defending the ball,” said Radarong.

It feels good to be here, it’s not every day we play in
the world tour with the top players.”

On Wednesday, the Thai pair played in only one pool
match after Poland’s Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska forfeited and the win
automatically went to Radarong/Udomchavee. In the morning, the Thai team played
Ukraine’s Svitlana Baburina and Diana Mulenko, and taking full advantage of
their familiar surroundings, quickly closed the win 2-0 (21-8, 21-14).

Lucky
losers

Sweden’s Nina Grawender and Karin Lundqvist took a place in the main draw as lucky losers after being
knocked out in the qualification tournament by Svitlana Baburina and Diana
Mulenko from Ukraine. The Swedish pair grabbed the chance with both hands,
taking two wins in Pool E and progressing into the single elimination
tournament.

The Swedish pair bagged their first pool win yesterday taking
Canada’s Jamie Lynn Broder and Kristina Valjas by surprise 2-0 (21-18, 21-18). Grawender/Lundqvist
then needed a favourable result in their second match, after losing to Brazil’s
Agatha Bednarczuk and Maria Antonelli in the morning 2-0 (21-19, 21-16).

“It was really hot, so it was just trying to survive
the match, but we had a good match,” said Grawender.

Grawender/Lundqvist faced Cindy Treland and Janne
Pedersen from Norway in the deciding pool match which was one of the matches at 13:30 in Phuket that was hit by heavy rainfall.

Norway took the first set 21-19 and the score stood a
level 4-4 in the second when the rain came. By halfway through the second set,
it was a matter of who could deal best with the conditions which continued for
the duration of the match. Sweden enlisted a little help from their height
advantage to end the match 2-1
(19-21, 21-18, 15-7).

“The match was kind of insane actually, started off
really humid and then the sky just opened up and it was raining like this
tropical rain can be, but it was interesting and we stuck through so I’m very
happy with that,” said Lundqvist.

“We are 100% lucky losers,” said Grawender

“We’re just enjoying every moment. We thought that
after the qualification that the vacation would begin but no. We’re supposed to
keep training and playing hard so that’s our main focus and we’re just going
with it,” said Lundqvist.

Phuket in general is gorgeous, I think there has been a
lot of good matches and a big crowd too so it’s a good event, I like it.”
The single elimination tournament begins on Friday and the Phuket Open runs until November 3.

Thailand has hosted
over 10 women’s and one men’s FIVB tournament. Overall, the USA has been the
most successful with 10 medal finishes in the seven FIVB World Tour events held
in Phuket.

The tournament
previously ran from 2006 until 2011, when the event moved to Bangsaen in 2012.
China’s Chen Xue and Zhang Xi won the 2011 edition, while Jennifer Kessy and
April Ross were victorious in 2012.

Phuket
is an island located to the south of Thailand, while the city of Phuket is the
island’s capital and home to 75,000 people. It is located 825 kilometres from
Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

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