Top Chinese seeds Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin made an easy sail into the semifinals of the men's beach volleyball, beating their compatriots Zhou Shun and Li Jian at the Doha Asian Games on Friday.

 

The last time the two pairs faced each other was in Montreal, Canada, on the FIVB World Tour, with Wu and Xu victors in two sets.Wu and Xu, ranked sixth in the world, showed their world-class quality this time again to take the match 21-14, 21-16 in rain.

 

"We have played each other a lot and we know each other's weakness and advantages, but my partner and I have performed better today," said Xu.

 

"But I'm still proud of the other Chinese team because they still have a chance and they're strong enough to get to the final," said Xu.

 

Zhou and Li will compete for another semifinal berth against the winner of the match between Kazakhstan duo Saulko Pave and Zabuslayev Pavel and Japanese second seeds Asahi Kentaro and Shiratori Katsuhiro on Saturday.

 

Two pairings of Kazakhstan, Vorobyev Dmitriy and Sidorenko Alexey, and Saulko Pave and Zabuslayev Pavel, both survived from the men's second-chance bracket by beating their Shi Lankan and Cambodian opponents in straight sets respectively.

 

Ash Kentaro and Shiratori Katsuhiro of Japan stunned Indian pairing Poothathan Mohan and Pradeep John 21-13, 21-12. However, their team mates Nishimura Koichi and Watanabe Satoshi, the fourth seeds of the tournament, were defeated by the Indonesian duo SalimAgus and Supriadi Supriadi.

 

Another Indonesian team of Ardiyansah Andy and Darkuncoro Koko Prasetyo also welcomed a 2-0 victory over Jabri Khalifa and Al Subhi Badar of Oman on Friday.

 

For the Chinese women's team, top seeds Wang Jie and Tian Jia have already sealed a semifinal berth, while another team Xue Chenand Zhang Xi will fight against Japanese fourth seeds Kusuhara Chiaki and Urata Satoko to advance to the semifinals on Saturday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2006)