Malaysian duo Beh Shun Thing/Luk Teck Eng will meet the Chinese top seeds Tian Jia/ Wang Jie at women's beach volleyball event Sunday after beating their Kazakh peers in straight sets on Saturday.

 

Another Chinese duo Xue Chen/Zhang Xi will play the in-form Heidi Ilustre/Diane Pascua of the Philippines on Sunday. The latter upset Yelena Alekina/Marina Storozhenko from Kazakhstan 21-16, 11-21, 17-15.

 

The two Chinese pairs, ranked second and the third in the world respectively, were in a sound condition, said Miao Zhihong, head coach of China's beach volleyball team.

 

"We come here for championship and we are confident in Sunday's match," said Miao.

 

Two Japanese teams, Chiaki Kusuhara/Satoko Urata, and Shinako Tanaka/Eiko Koizumi, both cruised to an easy victories over their young Iraqi and Mongolian peers respectively.

 

Thailand also enjoyed double success, with Kamoltip Kulna/Jarunee Sannok, and Yupa Phokongploy/Usa Tenpaksee both recording easy wins over their Sri Lankan and Hong Kong opponents.

 

For the men's part, Omanis pair Ibrahim Al Farsi/Yaqoob Al Maqbal will take on Chinese top seeds Wu Penggen/Xu Linyin on Monday after their 21-14, 21-8 win over Maldivian peers Waheed Fathuhulla/Mohamed Nadeem at the opener of beach volleyball event.

The Filipino duo Parley Tupaz/Rhovyl Verayo will face the fourth seeds Li Jiana/Zhou Shun from China in the second round after beating another pair of Omanis Khalifa Al Jabri/Badar Al Subhi in straight sets.

 

In another men's match of the day, Carder Bulla Aimed Al Era/Osaka Ida Ali Man from Bahrain prevailed over their Turkmenistan's opponents Mamed Batyrov/Dovletmurat Hallyyew in identical score of 21-19, 21-19.

 

Twenty-three teams are competing in the men's tournament, with the top nine seeds receiving a bye in the first round, while 14 women teams fight for champion with top two seeds absent from the first round.

 

Four pairs of Chinese players are regarded as the gold favorites after they wrapped up gold and silver medals for women's competition and finished third in the men's event at the 2002 Busan Asiad.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2006)