New Zealand`s women`s pair, Kiana Stevenson and Tineke Hinton, secured a bronze medal at the recent Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships held in Roi Et, Thailand. Their achievement placed them on the podium alongside the gold medalists, Jiang Kaiye and Zhou Mingli from China, and the silver medalists, Simarongnam Samitta and Sogalee Veragkhana from Thailand. In the men`s tournament, the medals were awarded to Klim Ryukhov and Vladislav Mastikhin of Kazakhstan (gold), Liu Yuan and Mao Yuan of China (silver), and Wichaya Wisetkan and Paphawin Manyahong of Thailand (bronze).
New Zealand`s beach volleyball program has benefited significantly from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support, receiving USD 462,000 for coaching and USD 34,000 for equipment. The national teams train under the guidance of coaches Mike Watson, Craig Seuseu, and Brad Taka. Stevenson and Hinton, seeded fifth, advanced to the semifinals with a four-match winning streak. They were stopped by top-seeded home favorites Wichaya Wisetkan and Paphawin Manyahong in a close match, losing 2-0 (22-20, 21-19). Moving to the third-place match, the New Zealanders delivered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) upset against the third-seeded Japanese pair Mei Mori and Noa Utsugi to clinch the bronze.
In the women`s gold medal contest, the second-seeded Chinese duo, Jiang Kaiye and Zhou Mingli, faced Thailand`s Samitta and Veragkhana. The Chinese team had reached the final with a dominant 2-0 (21-8, 21-17) semifinal victory over Japan`s Mori and Utsugi. Maintaining their perfect record, Jiang and Zhou defeated their Thai opponents 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) in the final, completing the tournament undefeated and claiming the continental title without dropping a single set across six matches.
On the men`s side, the seventh-seeded Kazakhstani pair, Klim Ryukhov and Vladislav Mastikhin, overcame an initial loss to go on a six-match winning streak to claim gold. Their path included a dramatic 2-1 (18-21, 21-11, 16-14) comeback win against top-seeded home favorites Wichaya Wisetkan and Paphawin Manyahong of Thailand in the semifinals. In the championship match, they secured a straight-sets victory, 2-0 (21-19, 21-16), over third-seeded Liu Yuan and Mao Yuan of China.
The Chinese silver medalists, Liu and Mao, reached the final by upsetting second-seeded Finley Bennett and Benjamin Carroll of Australia 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) in their semifinal match.
Hosts Thailand also earned a place on the men`s podium, with Wichaya and Paphawin defeating the Australian pair 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-9) in the bronze medal match.
All results and standings
The Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships featured 23 women`s and 26 men`s teams from 16 different national federations.
Oliver Wrenwick 
Finley Blackwood