Malaysia counting on three pairs to spike ‘em down at Under-19 World meet

KUALA LUMPUR: Three national pairs are gearing up to hit the sands at the 2024 Beach Volleyball Under-19 World Championships in Shangluo, China from Aug 27-Sept 1.

They are Jonathan Wong Hong Jie-Muhammad Adam Adnan in the men’s category and women’s pairs Nur Azwa Qariesya Mohammad Noor Aizuddin-Nur Auni Maisarah Shamsulrizal and Cadence Goh-Rachael Goh.

National beach volleyball head coach Hean Boon Yeow, though, feels that the Nur Azwa Qariesya-Nur Auni partnership stands a bright chance to progress furthest in the competition.

“Nur Azwa Qariesya-Nur Auni were the fifth best pair at the Asian Under-19 Beach Volleyball Championships in Roi-et, Thailand in May.

“They had a promising run in Thailand before going down 12-21, 20-22 to eventual champions from Australia (Jasmine Rayner-Cameron Zajer) in the quarter-finals,” he told Bernama.

As such, Boon Yeow hopes that Nur Azwa Qariesya-Nur Auni can make it to the round of 16 in China.

He also said that all national players have been undergoing centralised training in Lundu, Sarawak since last week ahead of the China meet.