Breaking News: Beach Volleyball action starts today in the Asian Games, Guangzhou, China
The 16th Asian Games kicked off on Friday, November 12 and welcomed around 138 athletes from around the world. The sports extravaganza started out with a variety of games and the beach volleyball competitions are scheduled to start today (Monday-
15th November, 2010). In the men’s division, 29 duos will be on the podium. Initially the teams will be divided into eight pools: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.
Technically, each pool will accommodate four teams but Pool A, B and C will have three teams apiece. Likewise, women’s competitions will start with 16 duos, which will compete for the gold-medal. Women’s squad will be grouped in four pools and each pool
will contain four teams.
Both men’s and women’s events will progress in the same pattern. The tournaments will be opened with the round-robin preliminary stage. The first preliminary round will be continued for five days and two successful teams from each pool will be promoted to
the next round. The final matches will be held on 23rd and 24th November in women’s and men’s categories respectively.
Men's section
Pool A: China 1, Yemen 1, Sri Lanka 2; Pool B: Korea 1, Kazakhstan 1, Hong Kong Pool C: Japan 2, Indonesia 1, Yemen 2 Pool D: Oman 1, Thailand 1, Qatar 2, Iran 2 Pool E: India 1, Malaysia, Kazakhstan 2, Cambodia 2 Pool F: Thailand 2, Qatar 1, Japan 1, India 2 Pool G: China 2, Timor-Leste, Iran 1, Cambodia 1 Pool H: Oman 2, Indonesia 2, Sri Lanka 1, Korea 2
Women’s division
Pool A: Kazakhstan 2, China 1, Hong Kong, Korea 2 Pool B: Malaysia, China 2, Timor-Leste , Japan 1 Pool C: Chinese Taipei, Thailand 1, Japan 2, Sri Lanka 2 Pool D: Thailand 2, Korea 1, Kazakhstan 2, Sri Lanka 1
The host nation China has the top contenders in both categories. The duo of Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin is up for the challenge and they enjoy great form this season. They are the Asian Champions and are currently world No. 4. Teams from Indonesia, Kazakhstan
and Japan are likely to create some noise in the game. It will be great to see them competing against the top-form home team.
Similarly, the top-seeded Zhang Xi and Xue Chen are a big threat for every other team in the women’s category. The duo is determined to lunch their power and capture the gold-ware. They have recently bagged consecutive victories in the SWATCH FIVB tournaments
and seem too good for the Asian Title.
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