Ayu, Efa cruise into semifinals in Batam

Matheos Viktor Messakh/The Jakarta Post/Batam

The Indonesian women’s team of Ayu Cahyaningsiam and Efa Sri Susilowati advanced to the semifinals of the Asia-Pacific Beach Volley Ball Tournament in Batam after defeating Elisa Dean and Sara Battaglene of Australia in three sets on Friday.

Indonesian top men’s pair, Koko Prasetyo and Andy Ardiyansah were also through after beating Casey Grice and Adam Blackburn of Australia on Friday evening 21-12, 22-20.

The Australians secured a rematch with Koko and Andy after previously defeating Pradeep John and Mohan of India 21-18, 21-18.

Ayu and Efa, who defeat New Zealanders Sonia Dunne and Chantal Tung 21-15, 21-11 earlier in the day, survived a late warm-up to defeat the Australians 19-21, 21-14, 15-12.

“They were just really good at bringing up everything, they always managed to scramble tough plays and put it back over when we weren’t ready,” Dean told The Jakarta Post after the match.

Efa said they advanced to the next round as they had nothing to lose, considering that they were relative unknowns.

“We played with no pressure at all and that made us very comfortable. We just need to be careful in the next round because we have never met any of these teams before, and we especially need to be careful against Kazakhstan and Japan,” Efa said.

“Yesterday they were struggling, but today they seemed to have found their form,” coach Slamet Mulyanto said.

Ayu and Efa play for Jakarta Popsivo Polwan in Proliga, Indonesia’s professional indoor volleyball league, but Popsivo missed the league playoffs and allowed the duo to play beach volleyball.

Ayu’s previous partner was Devota Rahawarin, while Efa played alongside Yokbeth Kappasiang. However, Devota and Yokbeth could not play in the tournament because their club, Jakarta BNI 46, qualified for the Proliga playoffs.

Another Indonesian duo, Riris Irawati and Fitri Wijayanti, were eliminated from the tournament, losing to Kazakhstan’s Pilipenko Marina and Samalikova Bakhtygul 21-10, 24-22.

Earlier on Friday, in the men’s division, Indonesians Agung Santoso and Nacy Subagya eased through their first game in the morning with a 21-19, 21-12 victory against Masakazu Ushio and Masakazu Hisasue of Japan, but later in the evening the duo lost to Sam O’Dea and Ben O’Dea of New Zealand.

The New Zealand duo, who are ranked fifth in the world among under-21s, advanced to the elimination round.

Another Indonesian pair, Jonathan Monim and Robertus Yanakaimu, were also dumped from the tournament. The Papuan duo was easily defeated 21-14, 21-14 by Kittipat Yungtin and Teerapat Pollueang of Thailand in 35 minutes.