Indonesian second men's beach volleyball team embarked on its long route to the final with a straight-sets win over Laos at Grand Inna Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur, on Saturday.
In the first set, the Indonesian pair of Dian Putra Santosa and Suratno doused the tough challenge presented by Laos' Homsombath and Lathmany 21-18, before settling the game with a thumping 21-9 rout over the visitors.
"We had to adjust to their playing style in the opening set,"the 184-centimeter Dian Putra told The Jakarta Post.
"They often tricked us with false balls. As a result, the score (in the first set) was pretty tight, with our opponents mostly scoring from the service zone."
Dian and Suratno found their rhythm during the second set and kept the Laotians trailing.
"Experience helped us play better than them,"he said."It was probably the first time the Lao team has played beach volleyball.
"In general, however, I'm satisfied with the result today."
Indonesia is scheduled to meet the Philippines in the second qualifying round Sunday.
Dian said his team and the Philippine pair stood equal chance of winning because they had never competed against each other.
Nevertheless, Dian said he was optimistic that Indonesia would reach the final, citing the national privilege of being able to train at the official venue longer than their rivals.
On another court, China's second best team Xu Qiang and Li Yang overpowered the Philippines' second team with a 21-11, 21-8 win.
Other straight set winners of the first qualifying round were Taipei 2, Kazakhstan 2, the Philippines 1, Cambodia 1,Vietnam 1, Oman 2 and Brunei 1.
Vietnam's second team was the only team which played a rubber game, beating Cambodia's second team 2-1.
because Laos has trained in cement court instead of Beach haha Very nice to hear that we have participated in Beach Volleyball competition ,Hope we play better next competitions.
