Indonesians, Brazilians thru

INDONESIA struck down top seed Spain while Brazil outlasted the Netherlands yesterday to gain semifinal berths in the Spike For Peace international beach volleyball at Philsports Arena in Pasig.

Shorter but nonetheless wiser in sands play, the second-ranked pair of Juliana Dhit and Dini Jasita Utami Putu shocked title favorites Amaranta Fernandez and Ester Riber, 22-20, 23-21.

Brazilians Semirames Perazzo Ameral and Bruna Figueiredo took the longer route to survive the Netherlands’ Rosanna Van Der Hoeven and Ilke Meertens, 21-14, 19-21, 15-12.

The Spaniards stormed to set point at 20-17 in the first but Dhita came through with splendid drop shots to tie the game, 20-20. Putu then came to fore, hammering in successive aces to wrap up the set.

Fernandez and Riber regained their bearings in the second set to tie the game at 19-all and force two deuces, the last at 21-all on Fernandez’s slams, but Dhita found open spots for back-to-back winners to seal the Indonesians’ win.

Indonesia next plays Japan after Ayumi Kusano and Akiko Hasega-wa drubbed New Zealand’s Julia Margaret Tilley and Shaunna Marie Polley, 21-9, 21-11, later in the day.

“We played as a team,” said Dhita, who teamed up with Putu to brag the bronze medal in last year’s Asian Beach Games in Phuket won by the same Thailand team that is also playing here.

The Indonesians have been playing together in Asian tournaments for four years and are hoping to collect enough points to land a berth in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Brazil will face either Thailand and Sweden, which were still playing as of press time.

The Philippines fielded two teams here but didn’t make it past the group stage.

The semifinals and finals get going today starting at 1 p.m.