Thailand simply sensational against Iran
Thailand's sensational 2-0 win over Iran in the men's foot volley competition was the highlight of the day in the 4th Asian Beach Games yesterday.
En route to their showdown, Thailand pulled off an impressive 2-0 (18-5 18-2) win over Malaysia in the semi-finals earlier, while Iran beat the UAE 18-10 18-12 in the other semi-final clash.
The final clash saw Thailand put powerhouses Iran to shade with their superb skills for a 18-8 18-11 victory to capture the gold medal, the day’s first and the country’s fifth overall.
Meanwhile, two gold medals were up for grabs in the marathon swimming yesterday. Shi Yu clocked the best time of 59 minutes, 49.3 seconds in the women’s 5km swim to hand China the first gold medal here, leaving Thailand’s Benjaporn Sriphanomthorn to take the silver, just 3.2 minutes behind.
Kazakhstan’s Vitaliy Khudyakov claimed the men’s 5km swim gold after clocking 58.39.5 minutes, with China’s Qiao Zhongyi in second place in 58.41.2 minutes.
In the beach basketball competition, the Thai women’s team went down to Taiwan 16-14 in the preliminary Group B, while their men’s side yesterday scored two crucial wins, first outclassing Mongolia 14-12 and later stunning China 21-15 in their Group B matches.
In the beach soccer event, the host nation also fared well in the men’s first round Group A encounter against Qatar, thrashing them 5-1 yesterday.
Ryo Sueoka and Yurie Kato gave Japan two gold medals in the triathlon yesterday when they captured the top spot in the men’s and women’s duathlon competition respectively. The mixed duathlon team relay was still being contested at press time.
Mongolia were the top of the medal tally with six gold and two bronze medals at press time, while Thailand remained in second place with five gold, five silver and seven bronze. The third place went to the Uae with four gold.
