Story by Chin Chi Hua/Red Sports. Photos by Leslie Tan/Red Sports.
Singapore’s Qing Shan spikes home a point against Saudi Arabia in their 2-1 win. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Siloso Beach, Sentosa, Thursday, July 2, 2009 – Singapore beat the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2-1 this morning in the Asian Youth Games (AYG) Beach Volleyball competition.
Melvin Goh and Qing Shan overcame the pair of Mustafa Hussain and Saad Khaleel in an extremely tight match that could have gone either way.
The Singapore boys were all pumped up, in contrast with the Saudi pair who seemed slightly weary after an earlier match they had against Sri Lanka.
Melvin and Qing Shan took the first set 21-18 as their strategy of making their opponents run more worked effectively. The pair from Saudi Arabia were tired out by the shot variations by the Singapore boys.
The second set was not as smooth sailing with the Saudis making a comeback and targeting their serves at Qing Shan instead. This threw off the Singapore boys and they lost the second set 15-21.
The third set was a nail-biter but Melvin and Qing Shan managed to remain focused despite trailing. They managed to catch up and close the gap and overhaul the Saudis.
The Singapore surge made the Saudis lose their composure midway through the third set with the referee giving a warning to Saad as he kicked the ball in the air after he couldn’t receive a shot well.
The Singapore boys eventually won the third set 15-12 to secure a place in the quarter-finals after finishing second in their group.
“I think we played even better today than in the win over Japan yesterday,” said Qing Shan.
A bunch of Catholic High volleyball players were in attendance and Qing Shan, who is from Catholic High, acknowledged their presence. Melvin is also a Catholic High alumni.
“We are very appreciative that they came. They were a great encouragement to us,” said Qing Shan.
Singapore coach, Teo Chiek Shan, was satisfied with their performances as well.
“To improve further, the boys need more variations in their shots so that they will not be too predictable. We lost points to bad serves and so we should make the opponents earn the points and not give them away so easily.”
The Singapore boys team will now meet Oman tomorrow, July 3, at 10am, in Round 1 of the main draw.
Singapore’s Melvin Goh digs out a Saudi shot. The boys won the first set 21-18. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Qing Shan (right) and Melvin found the going hard in the second set… (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Qing Shan goes for another point in the nail-biting final set. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Melvin dives to dig out a Saudi attack while Qing Shan gets into position. The boys managed to pull out a third set 15-12 win to qualify for the quarter-finals against Oman. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
The boys were quite pumped up for the game. I couldn’t help myself and started cheering them on out loud. : )
Half expected to get thrown out of sidelines.
Great photos… and it looks quite hot in the sun. But the volleyball boys look cool in their shades:)