China and Japan split the women's semifinal berths while Kazakhstan also won two men' s semifinal spots with the other half grasped by China and Japan on the penultimate day competition of the 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship here on Friday.

Women's Olympic bronze medal winners and top-seeded Chinese Xue Chen and Zhang Xi eliminated two Kazak duos en route to their semifinal outing at the Holiday Beach in Haikou, the capital city of Hainan province.

In the round of 16, Xue Chen and Zhang Xi overcame an opening-set blunder to beat 10th seed Mashkova Tatyana and Tsimbalova Irina 2-1 (16-21, 21-13, 15-10), before downing eighth seed Samalikova Bakhtygul and Pilipenko Marina 2-0 (21-9, 21-6) in the quarterfinal in the afternoon.

Third seed fellow Chinese Jin Jieqiong and Yue Yuan scored a pair of straight-set wins for the last four, winning over 15th seed Sri Lankan Sewwandi Tharanga and Sujeewa, W.W. 2-0 (21-4, 21-11) in the morning, and 6th seed Yupa Phokongploy and Kamoltip Kulna of Thailand 2-0 (21-8, 21-18) in the last eight.

The other women's semifinal berths were snatched by Japanese Shinako Tanaka and Sayaka Mizoe, Mutsumi Ozaki and Ayumi Kusano.

Second seed Shinako Tanaka and Sayaka Mizoe made the semifinals by beating 7th seed Usa Tenpaksee and Jjarunee Sannok of Thailand 2-0 (21-16, 21-18), after surviving a first set deficit to overcome 21st seed Kou Nai Han and Chang Hui Min of Chinese Taipei 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 17-15) in the morning.

Fifth seed Mutsumi Ozaki and Ayumi Kusano became the winners twice on the day, beating 14th seed Truong Thi Yen and Nguyen Thi Mai of Vietnam 2-0 (21-15, 21-12), and 11th seed Jusabelle Berame Brillo and Nerissa Desaporado Bautista of the Philippines 2-0 (21-13, 21-13).

In the semifinals of Sino-Japanese affair, Xue Chen and Zhang Xi will play Mutsumi Ozaki and Ayumi Kusano, while Jin Jieqiong and Yue Yuan face Shinako Tanaka and Sayaka Mizoe for the women's top honor of the championship.

The men's competition witnessed the surprise winners of Kazakhstan, who defeated two Chinese pairs in the quarterfinals to win half of the semifinal berths through fourth seed Alexandr Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko, and sixth seed Alexey Kulinich and Dmitriy Yakovlev.

Alexandr Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko beat 14th seed Kasi Viswanatha Raju and Kiran Kumar Reddy of India 2-0 (21-12, 21-14), before winning over 5th seed Liu Yong and Chen Cheng 2-0 (21-16, 21-19).

Alexey Kulinich and Dmitriy Yakovlev savored their easy wins, first against 13th seed Peiris Sampath and Rathnapala Wasantha of Sri Lanka 2-0 (21-15, 21-14), and against third seed Gao Peng and Li Jian 2-0 (21-17, 21-14).

However, the hosts also had their slice of the men' s semifinals when top seed Xu Linyin and Wu Penggen recorded their easy voyage by eliminating 21st seed Al-Sheriqi Haitham and Al-Hosni Ahmed of Oman 2-0 (21-14, 21-11), and 10th seed Jadideh Azim and Sansabali Ebrahim of Iran 2-0 (21-14, 21-14).

The remaining last four slot was taken by second-seeded Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan who had an easy victory first over 11th seed Wong Kwun Pong and Wong Chun Wai of Chinese Hong Kong 2-0 (21-8, 21-9), before rallying from one set down to beat 15th seed Kittipat Yungtin and Sataporn Sawangrueng of Thailand 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-8) in the quarterfinals.

In Saturday's semifinals, Chinese Xu Linyin and Wu Penggen will play Alexandr Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko, while Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori will vie against Alexey Kulinich and Dmitriy Yakovlev.

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