Men’s quarter-final winners at AVC Beach Volleyball Championship, Haiku, China
The AVC Beach Volleyball Championship completed its run on Sunday, 24th October, 2010 in China. The double-gender campaign was kicked off on Tuesday at the Holiday Beach in Haikou, China. A total of 49 beach volleyball duos in men’s and women’s
categories graced the podium and staged incredible fight for supremacy. The fire was ignited with the first round pool-play matches and tournament gradually headed toward the end. The hosts China displayed great effort and paved its way to the quarter-finals
with two pairs of Wu Penggen/Xu Lingyin and Gao Peng/Li Jian, labelled as China 1 and China 2 respectively.
The China’s two teams confirmed their ambition for victory and thirst for higher status in AVC Beach Volleyball by showing a spectacular game in the quarter-finals. The considerable quarter-final victory enabled them to reach the semi-finals along with two
other pairs from Indonesia and Kazakhstan. The quarter-finals were played on Friday, 22nd October, 2010.
China 1 vs. Japan 2-0 (21-18, 21-16)
The first quarter-final battle brought China and Japan on two sides of the net. China was represented by Wu Penggen and Xu Lingyin, while Kentaro Asahi-Katsuhiro Shiratori defended Japanese side. The both contenders had adverse rivalry and opened the match
in an aggressive style. The exchange of strong serves and aces created a thrill in the game. The first set of the match rapidly turned into a heated competition. On top of it, the extreme weather conditions added more fuel to the injury.
Wu/Xu of China were able to steal points from Japanese side at regular intervals. Likewise, the Japanese studs continued with their great effort and didn’t let the gap of points stretch out. The home-side was equipped with wonderful hitting skills. They
put away nice floaters which successfully deceived Japanese players and China took a lead in the score. The latter half of the first set was totally overwhelmed by China’s duo. The better attack and defence strategy enabled them to end the first set with 21-18
on the scoreboard.
The victory of home-team in first set put a wave of extreme joy in local fans. They cheered out their favourite duo and encouraged them to make more progress. The second set also came successful for Wu and Xu as they stormed Japan’s half with deadly spikes.
Kntaro Asahi of Japan put his hands up in the air at almost every-shot and demonstrated nice blocking-effort. Asahi killed a few good shots but Xu started the attack from back-court and created trouble for rival team. Wu/Xu connected the points wire-to-wire
and steadily clawed their way to victory in second set as well. They closed the set with five straight points at 21-16 and clinched a spot in the semi-final of AVC Beach Volleyball Championship.
China 2 vs. Kazakhstan 2-0 (21-14, 21-12)
The second pair from China which comprised of Goa Peng and Li Jian also followed the footsteps of their home-mates and pulled off quarter-final victory against Kazakhstan’s Alexey Kulinich and Dmitriy Yakovlev.
The pair of Peng/Jian grabbed the control of first set with commanding serves and electrifying spikes. Peng had his eyes fixed on the opponents’ court. He spotted gaps on the other side and pushed the ball in right areas. The ball just needed the touch of
his hands and it promptly contributed points. They built a strong lead over Kazakhstan and clipped first set victory with a good margin of 7 points. The first set was finished at a score of 21-14.
Kazakhstan rallied back in the following set but couldn’t stop China’s hotshots from hard-hitting. Peng/Jian attacked more fiercely and quickly took the score to end line. Kazakhstan suffered the loss of second set by receiving 12-21, while China 2 reserved
a berth in the semi-final of AVC Beach Volleyball Championship by defeating the Kazakh team.
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