Story by Desiray Tay/Red Sports

Siloso Beach, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 – Qing Shan and Melvin Goh rose to the task and took their first victory in the Asian Youth Games Boys Beach Volleyball competition by beating Japan 21-14, 21-18.

Both Japan and Singapore lost their opening games earlier in the day and were certainly looking to make a comeback with a win this afternoon.

Singapore made the opening serve as they went for first blood, but they failed to take the lead as Japan’s Nishigaki displayed excellent ball control to absorb the attacks aimed at him. As he later confessed, Qing Shan revealed that it was their game plan to aim the attacks at Nishigaki as he had an obvious height disadvantage.

Indeed, looks can be deceiving. Despite his short and stocky build, Nishigaki proved to be a formidable opponent and it was his ability to absorb attacks and bring the ball under control that kept Japan in the game. It was left to his taller team mate Koizumi to gain points for them, which the latter failed to do as his spikes hit the net. But he managed to gain points with his effective blocks which left the ball unable to be saved.

The match was looking to be a tight affair but Singapore quickly pulled away on the basis of their attacking prowess. The hosts’ doubled their lead over Japan at 12-6, and the latter called the first time-out.

In the post-game interview, the Japanese coach said of her players that “they didn’t think, they just played”, and this was obvious on court. Both Melvin and Qing Shan displayed their quick thinking and good reading of the game, correctly predicting where the Japanese were going to spike or send the ball to, and turning the tables on them by counter-attacking and seizing precious points.

It was soon set point to Singapore after the first long rally of the game. Melvin sent a powerful spike which Koizumi blocked beautifully, but Singapore were not to be denied the first set and they claimed it 21-14 moments later.

The start of the second set saw Japan fighting hard to claim and level the match, and it looked to be an exciting set as both teams tussled over the ownership of the lead. However, Japan only managed to gain points through Singapore’s mistakes, and failed to garner any points on their own possession. Both teams gave points away through their service errors, with Singapore’s serves finding the net and Japan’s continuously landing out of bounds.

As the game went on, Singapore endangered what looked to be a guaranteed victory by allowing Japan to capitalise on their errors, and the gap between the 2 team inched closer. Melvin and Qing Shan then unleashed a move which stunned their opponents – a pretense of a spike but in fact, a soft lob that dropped the ball just slightly over the net.

An amazing feat then happened as the ball travelled along the net, and its balancing act kept Japan from conceding as it allowed Nishigaki to hit it to safety. It was 17-19 to Singapore, and they called for a time-out when that lead was halved.

The question of ‘Who will it be?’ was then answered by Singapore who stepped up to make it match point, but the ball was tossed back and forth excruciatingly. A deathly spike by Singapore then sealed the fate of the Japanese, and also victory for Singapore at 21-18.

The Singapore Boys will be looking to do their best tomorrow as they face Saudi Arabia, who also beat Japan earlier today. Having rid themselves of their nerves, the boys are now confident that they will only get better.