MANUEL VAZ
OLD GOA: The pair of Anil Shirodkar and Pralhad Dhawasker saved the day for Goa-India as they became the only Goa-India team to march into the semi-finals of the beach volleyball competition by defeating Cape Verde’s Davilson Martins and Valter da Luz in a thrilling match at Miramar court.
After both the women’s team bowed out in contrasting fashion and the other men’s team conceded a walkover, the onus was on the Shirodkar-Dhawasker pair to deliver and they did not disappoint as they came from a set down to beat Martins-Luz 20-22, 21-16, 15-6 in the quarter-finals, thereby ensuring that at least one Goa-India team will play in the semi-finals to be played on Saturday.
The Dhawasker-Shirodkar pair took early lead in the first set racing to a 7-1 lead and then maintaining the lead at 13-8. However, Martins-Luz came back strongly and leveled at 16-16 before winning the set at 22-20.
In the second set, Dhawasker-Shirodkar led by a slender margin before opening up a 7 point lead at 17-10 and finally capturing the set at 21-16.
In the decider, egged on by a vociferous crowd, Dhawasker-Shirodkar made short work of Martins-Luz to chalk out an easy 15-16 win, to earn a place in the semi-finals where they will face the formidable Portuguese duo of Jose Pedrosa and Pedro Rosa, who brushed aside the challenge of Sao Tome & Principe’s Walter Lima-Quett Costa 21-11, 21-10 in another quarter-final encounter.
Earlier, in the pre-quarters, Dhawasker-Shirodkar had easily accounted for Guinea Bissau’s Edmildo Cabral-Isnaba da Silva pair 21-5, 21-6.
In the other matches for Goa-India, in the men’s section Joseph Kamalan and Sanjay Shirodkar conceded walkover to Angola’s Edson Herlander-Dario Santos as Kamalan had dislocated his knee.
In the women’s matches, the pair of Jayaraman Maheshwari and K V V Sanhti Devi lost tamely to Portugal’s Joana Vasconcelos-Raquel Lacerda 9-21, 12-21.
The other women’s pair of Christie Dias-Danish Dias went down fighting to Mozambique’s Joaquina Roque-Satira Chongo in a close quarter final encounter at 18-21, 21-23.
The Mozambique pair will await the winner of the match between Portugal’s top pair of Ana Freches-Juliana Antunes and Portugal’s second pair of Joana Vasconcelos-Raquel Lacarde, as their quarter final match was postponed to Saturday.
Meanwhile, both the men’s and women’s teams of Sri Lanka, who are playing under protest, booked their places in the semi-finals.
In the men’s section, top Lanka pair of Pubudu Ekanayaka-Asanka Pradeep got the better of Angola’s Edson Herlander-Dario Santos 14-21, 21-10, 15-12 in the first quarter-final.
In the other quarter-finals, the second Lankan pair of Wasantha Rathnapala-M Jude Perera defeated Portugal’s second best pair of Joaquim Carvalho-Luis Freitas 23-21, 21-17. The Lankans now face each other in the semi-finals.
In the women’s section, top Lanka pair of W W Sujeewa-Geethika Lalani defeated Angola’s Sara Lemos-Janette Isabella 21-15, 21-16.
The other Lankan pair of Asha Nilmini-Nirosha Gunasinghe easily accounted for Cape Verde’s Irina Delgado-Nilza Monica 21-11, 21-13.
