Sri Lankan spikers in two good wins over Kazakhstan and Malaysia

Bernard PERERA in Bangkok

Sri Lanka ‘B’ team made Beach Volleyball history when they recorded two good victories over Kazakhstan and Malaysia convincingly by two straight sets. The most interesting was the match between Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan where the Lankans made sure of their victory from the beginning of the game.

Sri Lanka has never won against Kazakhstan in the past meetings in the Asian region. Kazakhstan the silver medallists at the Asian Beach Games in Indonesia behind the host nation were the favourites in this game.

But this was completely eliminated by the Lankan pair Mahesh Perera and Wasantha Ratnapala making use all the opportunities to collect points.

Right from the beginning the Lankans were in front and never gave their opponents a chance to overcome them. They held on to the lead that they gained and went on to win the first set at 21-19.

The second set too began with Lankans taking the upper hand and moved swiftly to maintain the lead what they got but the Kazakhs came in to equal terms with the scores reading 10-10.

Lankans broke through again but at 12 Kazkhs once again equalised, and Lankans decided to have a go at it and kept on moving closely, made sure not to allow the Kazakhs to overcome them and ended the set at 21-18 to seal a historic victory.

Later the pair faced Malaysia and beat them also in straight sets to make it two in row. Here too it was the same way the duo fared gaining every point that was on offer. In fact the, always maintained a three point lead up to the half way mark and increased the lead and finish the set at 21-12.

The second set began the same way but the Malaysian did a little bit better to go past the first set score reaching 15 points before losing the set and the match.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ team opened their game against Bangladesh and they too played impressive volleyball to win the game comfortably in straight sets. The pair consisting of Dhammika Perera and Pubudu Ekanayake were in full control of the game. The lead they took in the early stage was quite sufficient to finish the game in only 20 minutes at 21-6.

The pair then went on to win the second set too convincingly 21-10.

Later the pair had to face stiff opposition from the host nation Thailand where they had to fight all the way before losing the match 2 sets to 1 (21-18, 15-21, 11-15)

The Lankan Women players will come out today for their opening game. Heavy rains and strong winds interrupted play in the evening but the organizers managed to complete the day’s program soon after the rain ceased as the matches were conducted on five counts.

Results Men: Sri Lanka ‘B’ beat Kazakhstan 2-0 (21-19, 21-18)

Sri Lanka ‘A’ beat Bangladesh 2-0 (21-6, 21-10), Thailand beat India 2-1

Philippines beat Australia 2-1, Women: Thailand beat New Zealand 2-1

Thailand beat Malaysia 2-1.