Australian spikers stamp supremacy with second win on Thai sand

Third-seeds Louise Anne Bawden/Taliqua Shanice Clancy of Australia 1 took just 33 minutes to overcome Thailand 2’s 2008 Asian Beach Games champions Jarunee Sannok and Usa Tenpaksee 21-18 21-15 to repeat the feat they achieved a week ago.

The Aussies surprised the Asian beach spikers last week by coming from nowhere to clinch the women’s crown in the Khanom-Chang Asian Beach Volleyball Tour Khanom Open in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Tuesday’s win was the second time in quick succession that Bawden and Clancy have stamped their supremacy on the Asian Tour on Thai soil.

Third-place play-off saw top seeds, reigning champions and current Asian Beach Games champs Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee of Thailand 1 outclass Kazakhstan 1’s Tatyana Mashkova and Irina Tsimbalova 21-15 21-12.

In the morning semi-finals, Varapatsorn and Tanarattha suffered a shock 17-21 24-26 defeat to Jarunee and Usa in the all-Thai semi-final clash, while the other semis saw Bawden and Clancy power past Mashkova and Tsimbalova in a gruelling 51-minute battle 21-18 15-21 15-9.

History also repeated itself in the men’s event when second-seeds Isaac Leonard Kapa/Christopher Bernard McHugh of Australia 1 stunned top seeds Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko of Kazakhstan 1 in a rematch of last week’s Khanom Open showdown in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The third-place play-off saw Kazakhstan 2’s Dmitriy Yakovlev/Alexey Kuleshov finish third following their hard-fought 23-21 21-19 victory over New Zealand 1’s Ben Martin O’Dea and Jason William Lochhead.

In the morning semi-finals earlier, Dyachenko/Sidorenko outclassed Yakovlev/Kuleshov 21-16 21-13 in an all-Kazakh battle, while Isaac Kapa/McHugh played an exhausting 65-minute clash against New Zealand 1’s Ben O’Dea and Lochhead. To the tough rivals’ amazement, the Aussies recovered from losing the first set 26-28 to take the remaining two 21-18 15-9.