China sweeps titles at Asian Beach Volleyball Championship

China's Xue Chen (L) and Zhang Xi stand on the awarding podium after winning the women's final against another Chinese pair Jin Jieqiong and Yue Yuan at the 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 26, 2009. Xue Chen and Zhang Xi won by 2-0. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
Hosts China won both men's and women's titles at the 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship on the Holiday Beach in Haikou, capital of China's southern island province of Hainan, on Saturday.

Olympic bronze medal winners Xue Chen/Zhang Xi outpowered their fellow Chinese pair of Jin Jieqiong/Yue Yuan 21-18, 21-11 in 40 minutes to win the women's title with the prize money of 10,000 U.S. dollars.

The four-time World Tour winners only lagged behind once throughout the match. From 0-2, they scored four straight points for 4-2 lead and never looked back in the first set.

The Doha Asian Games champions played ever more aggressive in the second set with dips and blocks as they surged from 3-3 tie to13-5 and wrapped up the match without any hesitation.

"We have become more mature in cooperation through the matches these days," said Zhang, who separated with Xue after the Beijing Olympics.

Zhang told Xinhua they had prepared for the difficulties, and they made a best-ever performance.


Japan's Shinako Tanaka and Sayaka Mizoe stand on the awarding podium during the victory ceremony for the 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 26, 2009. The Japanese pair took the third place. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
Xue said she is not sure to partner Zhang at the Asian Games next year, but she expects China to win the glory.

In the men's final, top seed Wu Penggen/Xu Linyin of China downed sixth seed Alexey Kulinich and Dmitriy Yakovlev of Kazakhstan 21-11, 21-13.

The Chinese Olympic 9th-place finishers established a 4-0 lead and rushed to 17-8 as Xu Linyin scored at least half a dozen blocks in the first set.

From a see-saw first half of the second set, the Chinese enjoyed their upper hands over the net for a 13-8 lead, and eventually won the top prize of 10,000 dollars.


Kazakstan's Dmitriy and Alexey stand on the awarding ceremony after the men's final against China's Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin at the 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 26, 2009. The Kazakstan runner-up pair lost the match 0-2. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
In the men's third-place match, second seed Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan, who also ranked ninth in the Beijing Olympic Games, defeated fourth seed Alexandr Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko of Kazakhstan 21-13, 17-21, 15-10 in 50 minutes.

Two Japanese pairs vied for the women's third place finish where fifth seed Mutsumi Ozaki and Ayumi Kusano downed second seed Shinako Tanaka and Sayaka Mizoe 21-17, 21-19 in 37 minutes.

The 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship was the first of the kind in China, and the highest level in Asia, after the Asian Volleyball Confederation signed a five-year plan in June to award Haikou the hosting rights for five years.

Winners got the prize money of 10,000 dollars, runners-up had 8,000 dollars, third-placed teams pocketed 6,000 dollars, fourth-ranked duos went home with 4,000 dollars.

Those placed fifth-eighth duos had 2,500 dollars each, the pairs ranked ninth to 16th also got 1,200 dollars apiece, and all other competing teams won a prize money of 300 dollars apiece.

Source: Xinhua