MANILA, November 8 ------ Ran Abdilla and James Buytrago kept their cool in the clutch to stun the Japanese pair of Yoshi Hasegawa and Dylan Kurokawa in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championship. The Filipinos pulled off a 22-24, 24-22, 15-9 triumph at the Nuvali Sand Courts in the City of Santa Rosa. "It was a very difficult and frustrating first set, but we just had to continue fighting. We needed this win badly," said Buytrago after they shook off a close loss in the opener and controlled the deciding frame.
It was a bounce back performance for the pair, having lost in straight sets to Alani Nicklin and Thomas Hartles of New Zealand. They now have a 1-1 record ahead of a crucial match in pool play against Thailand's Netitorn Muneekul and Wachirawit Muadpha. "We were really tired, but the mindset is to win," Abadilla said. "There is nothing better than the feeling of winning, but we're not done here yet, lots of volleyball left to play."
Alas Pilipinas, however, took a huge hit as Rancel Varga and Lerry Franciso bowed to Dunwinit Kaewsai and Banlue Nakprakong, 14-21, 19-21. The new partners looked on the way to a decider when they took a five-point lead in the second set, 15-10, but collapsed and suffered another straight-sets loss. The top-rated pair of Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher from Australia had a tough win against Japan's Nassim Malki and Kosuke Fukushima, 21-16, 16-21, 15-6, for their second straight win in the tournament.
Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher next take on AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open champion Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab of Iran, who defeated China's Song Jinyang and Zhang Tai, 17-21, 21-15, 15-8. Australia's Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert downed Thailand's Surin Jongklang and Kittituch Khomkham, 21-17, 21-19, while Japan's Takumi Takahashi and Jumpei Ikeda defeated Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Yakolev and Sergey Bogatu, 25-23, 16-21, 16-14.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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