Sri Lankan men collapse on day 1 of AVC Continental Beach Volleyball Cup – Volleyball news
The 2012 AVC Central Zonal Beach Volleyball Tournament started off on Saturday with a total of 16 teams from five Asian countries.
The beach of Negombo in Sri Lanka set up the field of play for the Olympic qualifying event of Asian teams. The host Sri Lanka sent a total of four teams in the competition (two teams in each gender category) and achieved mix results.
The women’s teams staged a spectacular performance in their respective matches and led Sri Lanka to a wonderful 4-0 record on the opening day of the tournament. On the contrary, the men’s teams failed to profit the home advantage and suffered only damage
from the visiting teams. The men’s teams acted quite opposite to their female country mates and finished day 1 with a disappointing 0-4 record.
The Sri Lankan men’s duos of Mahesh Perera/ Wasantha Rathnapala and Pubudu/ Sampath went against opponents from Kazakhstan but failed to win any of the opening day matches. It brought a sheer regret for the home audience, which expected a great feat from
the local duos.
In the second round of the tournament on Saturday morning, Sri Lankan pairing of Perera-Rathnapala crossed ways with the visiting Kazakh duo of Kuleshov and Yakovlev. The start of the match was full of errors from both sides but team from Kazakhstan gradually
picked up pace in the competition.
They influenced the home duo with nice delivery of attacking shots and also hindered the performance with solid defence. The local beach volleyball fans raised their voices in support of home team but it did not have a great impact in the match. Perera-Rathnapala
dropped the decision in two straight sets, which ended with the identical score of 21-17. The Kazakh side finished the match in 35 minutes and sent the hosts to first loss of the day.
After the loss of opening match, all eyes were set on the next match that featured the second team of Sri Lanka. Pubudu and Sampath took centre stage, while Kazakhstan’s Sidorenko and Dyachenko challenged them.
The second match proved to be another eye-opener for Sri Lankan team as the guest duo took away the game in straight sets of 21-9 and 21-9 in only 29 minutes. Sri Lanka stood with 0-2 record after the completion of second match.
The winning tandem of Sidorenko and Dyachenko continued with same compassionate play in their next match against Perera and Rathnapala of Sri Lanka. It was the third match of the second round on the opening day of the tournament.
It unfolded the same story for Sri Lankan players. The pumped-up Kazak team added another win to their tally by winning third match in row. They defeated the home team 2-0 (21-11, 21-16) in about half-an-hour.
The home duo of Pubudu and Sampath gave a good competition to Kazakhstan’s Kuleshov-Yakovlev of Kazakhstan in the fourth match. They managed to steal one set from the competitors but the resilient rivals killed their hopes by winning the other two sets in
the match. The final set scores of the fourth match were 15-21, 21-19, 13-15.
Kazakhstan finished the day 1 of 2012 AVC Men’s Continental Cup with 4-0 record, while Sri Lanka remained without a single win on the opening day.
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