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Sunday November 22, 2009

Beach volleyball players put in extra hours for bid to get gold

By SHAMSHUL FITRI

KUALA LUMPUR: The quest for gold does not come easy as national beach volleyball players Beh Shun Thing and Luk Teck Hua have to put extra hours in training ahead of the Laos SEA Games.

With three training sessions a day, six times a week, the 24-year-old Shun Thing said that her fitness level was much better now.

“I feel that I have more stamina during training, thanks to the regime that we have to go through. The focus now is to perfect ball control and minimise mistakes during matches,” she said.

The best achievement for Shun Thing-Teck Hua in the SEA Games was a bronze medal in 2007 in Korat. They defeated an Indonesian pair in the playoff for third place after losing to Thailand in the semi-finals.

The duo have been together since the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and they have played in several FIVB World Tour tournaments.

Made to work hard: National beach volleyball team-mates Tek Hua (left) and Shun Thing in action during a trainning session at Bukit Jalil for the upcoming Laos SEA Games.

This year, however, they have played in only one competitive beach volleyball tournament – in Phuket earlier this month after Shun Ting opted for a short stint in the Indonesian Indoor Volleyball League (Proliga) in March.

In Phuket, Shun Thing-Teck Hua did not make it past the qualifying rounds.

“Even though it has been a while since we played together, it’s not difficult for us to gel in our game. We have a good understanding because we have been a pair for many years,” said Teck Hua.

Chief coach Lim Poh Hong said that the team have had a stint in New York in October under former pro player Eric Lecain to work on improving their chances to win the gold at the Laos Games.

“In addition to the training stint in New York, we are having a team from the Shantung Province in China to spar with the players here until we leave for Vientiane,” said Poh Hong.

“Both Shun Thing and Teck Hua have vast experience in international competitions, which will hold them in good stead in the Games.”

However, she said that what the duo would achieve would depend on how they fared against the fancied Thais on match day.

Malaysia’s second women’s pair for beach volleyball are debutantes Chia Chou Hwa-Jessie Lee. Malaysia will not feature in indoor women’s volleyball.

The men’s pairs for beach volleyball are Mohd Fitri Salim-Mohd Faiz Putra Abd Razak and Khoo Cheng Long-Lee Kwang Tung.

However, coach Lee Kok Peng, who won the silver medal in the 1997 Games in Jakarta with Mohd Nasiruddin Hashim, does not expect the men to progress further than the quarter-finals.

“The pairs were just formed in September to balance their defensive attributes and time was very short for them to properly gel. They opposition is strong and they are unlikely to get beyond the quarter-finals,” he said.

Malaysia will make a comeback appearance in SEA Game men’s indoor volleyball after last participating in the 2003 edition in Vietnam. Currently, the team are training in Indonesia under Thai coach Suntorn Phoseeta.

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