Promising Mariafe Artacho Del Solar/Taliqua Clancy captured the limelight on Sunday when the Australian duo captured the 6th South Sumatra Governor Cup AVC Beach Volleyball Tour Palembang Open at Jakabaring to win three consecutive major tournaments, as Qataris Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan Janko took the men’s title.
Artacho Del Solar/Clancy have already captured the women’s crown at the Asian Beach Tour Grand Front Osaka Open in Japan in early October before repeating the similar feat in the same month with scintillating win at the World Tour Qinzhou Open in China. With their victory at the Palembang Open on Sunday, the Australians have already made it three in a row just in one month.
Artacho Del Solar/Clancy smashed Thailand’s dreams of advancing to the final after brushing off former Asian Beach Games winners Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee 21-18 21-13 in the semi-finals. The Australian pairing went on their incredible performance to beat Kazakhstan’s Tatyana Mashkova/Bakhtygul Samalikova 21-14 21-18 in the final showdown. The Kazakh duo struggled to beat Japanese Megumi Murakami/Miki Ishii 21-18 18-21 15-7 in the other semi-final encounter earlier.
Murakami/Miki saved the pride for Japan by thrashing Thais Varapatsorn/Tanarattha 21-13 21-15 in a comfortable third-place playoff.
“We were challenged by Kazakhstan today, especially in the second set by their serves but we stayed strong when down 12-16 to our game and turn the set around to get another great win. We knew we could do it right from the start. We had trust in each other and we had a goal,” Artacho Del Solar was quoted as saying after the final match against Kazakhstan.
In the men’s competition, Qatar’s Cherif Samba Younousse/Ahmed Tijan Janko dashed out high hopes of Candra Rachmawan/Mohammad Ashfiya to clinch the title before their cheering home spectators. Cherif/Ahmed Tijan powered past the Indonesians 21-17 21-16 in the final clash. In the semi-finals earlier, Cherif/Ahmed Tijan beat Jefferson Santos Pereira/Julio Junior Do Nascimento in the all-Qataris affair, while Candra/Ashfiya thrashed Iranians Rahman Raoufi/Bahman Salemiinjehboroun 21-11 21-19.
It was the consecutive two tournaments Ahmed Tijan Janko has won this month. Earlier at the recent Grand Front Osaka Open in Japan, Ahmed Tijan Janko partnered Julio Junior Do Nascimento to capture the men’s honour.
Qataris Jefferson/Julio had to be content with the third place after a hard-fought 15-21 23-21 23-21 victory over Iranians Raoufi/Saemiinjehboroun in the bronze-medal match.
The four-day, double-gender competition was a test event for Asian teams prior to their tough task in the next year’s 18th Asian Games, which would be co-hosted by Palembang and Jakarta, Indonesia. Beach spikers from 15 countries including Australia, Japan, Iran, Qatar, Thailand and Chinese Taipei took part in this tournament, which took place at the Palembang’s landmark stadium of Jakabaring, the venue that would host the upcoming Asiad.