Timy, Devota out of Bali Open beach volleyball tourney

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Sanur, Bali

Ni Putu Timy Yudhani and Devota Rahawarin lost to the Australian pair Summer Lochowicz and Tamsin Barnett in the second round at the Bali Open beach volleyball tournament here on Friday.

The Indonesians failed to produce the winning form that earned them the recent Indonesia Open title, losing 21-15, 22-20 to end their run in Bali.

The top-seeded Brazilian pairs Renata Ribeiro and Talita Antunes, and Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede cruised through the semifinals, with each team scoring two wins.

Ribeiro and Antunes defeated the Japanese pair Eiko Koizumi and Shinako Tanaka 21-16, 21-17 early in the day, and chalked up a three-game win over the Greek duo Efthalia Koutroumanidou and Maria Tsiartsiani, 18-21, 21-14, 15-10, later in the day.

Second seeds Behar and Bede advanced to the final four after defeating Erika Nystrom and Emilia Nystrom of Finland 21-14, 21- 16, and Ana Paula Cornelly and Leila Baros of Brazil 21-15, 21- 18.

In the match featuring the Indonesians, Devota scored a number of points with vicious spikes but her poor defense was exploited by the Australians.

At 11-11 in the first game, Devota had several miscues on the Australians' serve, opening the way for Lochowicz and Barnett to secure the first game 21-15.

The second game was much tighter and the Indonesians held a 19-18 lead before the Australians surged back to wrap up the game and the match.

Timy was not overly disappointed by the loss. "It is OK, we played our best but unfortunately we made too many mistakes today."

"Devota was probably tired because her blocking and footwork were not working today," she said.

She expressed hope the Indonesian Volleyball Association would send her and Devota to future stops on the Swatch-Federation Internationale de Volleyball World Tour.

Timy and Devota were the last Indonesian pair to exit the tournament, following Iim Mukadimah and Ike Prasetyowati. The other three local pairs failed to make it out of the qualifying round.

Two places in the semifinals have been secured by the top- seeded Brazilian pairs, while the other two spots will be decided on Saturday.

Cornelly and Baros of Brazil will meet the winner of the all- Dutch match between Sanne Keizer and Marrit Leenstra, and third seeds Rebekka Kadijk and Merel Mooren.

Koutroumanido and Tsiartsiani of Greece will face the winner of the match between Nancy Mason and Jennifer Kessy of the U.S. and Simone Kuhn and Lea Schwer of Switzerland.