All-Thai affair in beach volley final

CLARK Field, Pampanga – The Thais made the first Clark Centennial Cup Asian Women’s beach volleyball championship an affair of their own, one they can truly be proud of with the Philippines relegated to a match no one would obviously like to play.

The two Thailand teams topped their respective divisions in the elimination round and then drubbed separate Indonesian foes in the cross-over Final Four to arrange a title showdown between them and corner a chunk of the $10,000 purse.

The inexperienced Filipinos, on the other hand, labored hard in the first two days of the five-nation, eight-team meet organized by the AYN Sports Management Group, the PAVA, Asian Volleyball Confederation and Pagcor, and concluded their elimination round stint without a win.

Hence, the teams of Helen Dosdos and Cecile Tabuena and Jennifer Bohawe and Sarah Faye Luna will slug it out in the first game set at 9 a.m. today with nothing more than seventh and eighth places at stake in the tournament backed by CDC, Clearwater, Speedo, Sharp, Caltrate, Gatorade, the PSC and The Philippine Star.

Thailand 1 made up of Manatsanan Pangka and Arlaisuk Ratanaporn won its three elims games, topped Group 2 and the mangled the Indonesian pair of Emerita Arisanti and Ninik Nuraida, 21-10, 21-8, in just 26 minutes under fading sunlight.

The second Thai team of Kamolthip Kulna and Juranee Sanoh actually made the championship game first, but not after being extended to the full route by the partnership of pretty Atlanta Olympics veteran Yudhani Ni Puti Timy and Nurjanah Sitti, 20-22, 21-13, 15-8.

It was a match that featured long rallies and powerful kills from both sides, a match that stands out as the best-fought so far with Thailand 2, which finished fourth in the Busan Asian Games this year, needing close to 50 minutes to prevail.

Indonesia 1 and 2 will dispute third and fourth, while Japan and Vietnam will fight it out for fifth and sixth positions in games all scheduled today. The title game is set at 3 o’clock.

Team Philippines became the only side not to win a game here, losing to Vietnam, 22-24, 15-21, in the last elimination round game of the day that would have given Philippines 1 a decent finish in this, the sixth leg of the Asian circuit.

Philippines 2, meanwhile, played more impressively than its compatriot, winning one set, over Japan in the opener.