Asian Beach Volleyball Tour:

Sri Lanka ‘A’ team lose to Indonesia

Bernard PERERA in Patthalung Loma, Thailand

Sri Lanka ‘A’ team which was hoping to make it to the semi final in the Asian Beach Volleyball Tour failed to do so when they were beaten two sets to nil by the Asian champions Indonesia after a great fight back. Although they failed to reach the semis they managed to take a step forward by reaching the seventh position in the Asian rankings.

Today Dhammika Silva and Pubudu Ekanayake will battle it out with Kazakhstan to move to the fifth position. This is a great achievement for Sri Lanka Beach Volleyball.

From the very beginning of the game Indonesians were in front but the fighting Lankans posed a big threat to the champs. They fought hard reducing the gap to two points but could not go past the score and the set ended in favour of the Indonesians at 21-18.

But in the second set the Indonesians expecting tough situation kept pressure on the Lankan duo and got off to a most vital lead and continued to maintain their reputation as champs of the Asian region by winning the set 21-13. Earlier in the morning the Sri Lanka ‘B’ team lost to another strong team Australia in a three setter 2-1. The first set was won by the Lankans after a good fight which had to go beyond 21 points. and ended the set at 25-23 to take a good lead.

In the second set Aussies fought gallantly to overcome the Lankans winning the set 21-14. As both teams were on level terms the game was extended for the third set which too was well fought by the Lankans but went down to lose the set and the game 15-12.

Lankan women fared poorly once again playing against Japan and went down in straight sets 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) Throughout the tour the women’s team failed to live upto expectations. They never showed any signs of improvement after playing many international tournaments.

On Thursday Sri Lanka had a field day winning all four men’s matches at the Asian Beach Volleyball Tour here in Ptthalung Loma. In fact Sri Lanka ‘A’ team of Dhammika Silva and Pubudu Ekanayake put on a brilliant performance to reach another milestone for Sri Lanka Beach Volleyball when they overcame the hosts Thailand team for the first time in nearly ten years. This achievement can be rated as one of the finest by Lankan Beach Volleyballers.

Dhammika and Pubudu got of to a flying start against the Thai pair put pressure on them till the half way mark but the Thais fought gallantly to come to equal terms 11-11. Lankans at this stage collecting three vital points got ahead and never gave their opponents a chance to get near them and completed the set at 21-16.

The second set too saw the Thais feeling pressure as they were fighting to make a strong comeback as hosts as the spectators were highly disappointed with the first set performance. With heavy rains coming down Thais could not match the power play of the Lankans. In addition to this Dhammika and Pubiudu’s accurate passes gave a lot of pressure to which they succumbed. Lankans made sure of their victory no sooner they reached the 15 point mark as they came in for more pressure.

Lankans managed to settle the set at 21-16 to seal their first win against the Thais. Earlier the same pair downed the Hong Kong pair after a tough engagement in a three setter 2-1. First it was Sri Lanka who won the set one at 21-13. Hong Kong pair fought back superbly to equalize in the next set at 21-15.

Here too the rains came down and the Hong Kong pair was closely following the Lankans but failed to go past them and ended up as losers 15-12. Lanka’s ‘B’. Wasantha Ratnapala and Mahesh Perera too proved that they have improved heavily after the previous tourney in Khanom where they reached the top eight. Yesterday they once again came up with two brilliant performances to beat Vietnam and Indonesia. With these two victories also put them into the last sixteen once again in the ongoing Asian Beach Volleyball Tour.

The Pair had to fight all the way to overcome the Vietnamese when they were stretched to the last set. Lankans won the first set at 21-16. But the Vietnamese making a strong fight went on to win the next at 19-21. Coming on to the final set the Sri Lankan pair got off to a flying start and completed the set and also the match 15-11.