Tokyo, Japan, July 27, 2018 – Japan’s Azusa Futami and Akiko Hasegawa won a hard-fought match against Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong and Thanarattha Udomchavee to move to the Round of 16 of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Tokyo 3-star on Friday.
Futami and Hasegawa bounced back from their setback in the second set with a two-point edge in the thrilling tie-break set 2-1 (22-20, 20-22, 17-15).
“There were things that did not go well since we started the competition, but we kept a strong mind to win,” Futami said. “We showed our fighting spirit in this match.”
“Our condition is getting better in each match,” Hasegawa said. “We played with a lot of aggressiveness. We had a strong will to win and that translated to victory.”
Earlier, the Japanese pair recorded a 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) victory against Canada’s Julie Gordon and Sophie Bukovec in pool play.
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Three more Japanese pairs delivered strong performances to move to the next round.
Chiyo Suzuki and Reika Murakami defeated USA’s Amanda Dowdy and Irene Pollock 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-13), then Megumi Murakami and Miki Ishii trounced compatriots Yukako Suzuki and Kaho Sakaguchi 2-1 (19-21, 21-11, 15-5), while Yui Nagata and Minori Kumada finished their match against Norway’s Viktoria Faye Kjolberg and Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland 2-0 (22-20, 21-16).
In other matches, Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong and Khanittha Hongpak outplayed China’s Wang Xinxin and Zeng Jinjin 2-0 (23-21, 21-17), while Spain’s Angela Lobato and Amaranta Fernandez and Norway’s Ingrid Lunde and Oda Johanne Ulveseth defeated their Japanese counterparts.
USA's Lauren Fendrick and Sarah Sponcil won their match against compatriots McKenna Thibodeau and Madison Witt by default.