Tokyo, Japan, July 28, 2018 – Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Anniina Parkkinen were first to reach the women’s semifinals of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Tokyo 3-star after their 2-0 (21-18, 21-11) triumph against Japan’s Yui Nagata and Minori Kumada on Saturday.
Lahti and Parkinen have won all their matches in straight sets en route to their first World Tour final four appearance after eight previous events.
“This is our first time in the semifinals as a team, so it feels really nice to make it this far,” Parkkinen said.
“We are really happy that we won the match,” Lahti added. “We knew that if we played our own strong game then we had a good chance of winning. Today we made a good job in block and defence.”
Earlier, the Finnish pair defeated Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong and Khanittha Hongpak 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) in the Round of 16.
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Lahti and Parkkinen’s compatriots Riika Lehtonen and Niina Ahtiainen, Japan’s Megumi Murakami and Miki Ishii, USA’s Lauren Fendrick and Sarah Sponcil, Germany’s Teresa Mersmann and Cinja Tillman, Canada’s Megan and Nicole McNamara and Norway’s Ingrid Lunde and Oda Johanne Ulveseth also earned respective victories to battle for the remaining three semifinal spots.
The quarterfinals begin at 8.30 local time on Sunday, July 29.