Tennis

Homma Eri and Otsuka Erina of Japan pose for photos after winning the women's doubles title of the ITF - BT50-2 Vietravel Cup 2024 which closed on August 22 in Quy Nhơn City, Bình Định Province. Photos of VTF

BÌNH ĐỊNH — Japanese Homma Eri and Otsuka Erina took the women's doubles title of the ITF - BT50-2 Vietravel Cup 2024 which closed on August 22 in Quy Nhơn City, Bình Định Province.

The tournament was one of two first international beach tennis competitions held in Việt Nam, featuring 36 players of different countries at the Xuân Diệu Beach.

Eri and Erina showed their domination throughout the event and beat Junko and Aoi 6-4, 6-0 in the final match.

It was their second gold medal in Bình Định as earlier they triumphed against same rivals 6-1, 6-0 in the ITF - BT50-1 Fleur de Lys Cup 2024 on August 20.

“We are excited and happy to win two consecutive championships. This is the first time we compete in Việt Nam but the organisation activities are really impressive. See you next evens, Việt Nam is great,” said Eri.

In the men's doubles event, Salehferas Almufadhi and Leklamat Harrison of Thailand made a bang when they defeated Japan No 1 Sakata Kouhei / Yoshimura Ryo 3-6, 7-5 (11-9) to take gold.

In the Fleur de Lys Cup, the men's doubles winners were Paolo Tronci and Richard Frau of Italia.

They won 6-4, 6-0 over title candidate Goda Satoshi and Tomioka Hiroyuki.

Paolo Tronci and Richard Frau of Italia seen in action during the Fleur de Lys Cup's the men's doubles final.

“I am happy and emotional when I participated and won title in Việt Nam which is home to beautiful Quy Nhơn, a perfect for beach tennis," said Paolo after the awarding ceremony.

Meanwhile Goda shared that he was impressed witnessing many players from Thailand , Japan and Việt Nam taking part in the competition. It meant that beach tennis was strongly developing in Asia. He hoped to have opportunities to compete in more tournaments in Asia in the future.

In both two events, Vietnamese players tried their best but they could not make surprise against strong rivals.

The champions were awarded US$800 each pair while their runners-up earned $480 in each tournament.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Việt Nam Tennis Federation Vice President Nguyễn Hồng Sơn appreciated Japanese players who dominated the events.

He said: "Japanese players make impressive performance in both in men's doubles and women's doubles events, tanking both gold and silver medals. Japan has definitely strongly invested in beach tennis and the country has earned remarkable achievement." VNS