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SINGAPORE: It was hardly perfect weather for a day at the beach on Wednesday.
The sun stayed hidden for the most part over Sentosa, on the first day of the Asian Youth Games beach volleyball competition, and the heavens opened for a brief while in the late morning, just enough to harden the usually soft white sands of Siloso Beach.
But that did little to help Mongolian duo Nomio Ragchaabazar and Namuun Altansukh, who played their first match just before noon and went down 21-13, 21-7 to Singapore's Tan Yi Ting and Dorita Peng.
Despite the defeat, the Mongolian girls were all smiles as they posed for pictures with 17-year-old Dorita and 16-year-old Yi Ting and soaked up the atmosphere.
"This is our first competitive beach volleyball game," said Nomio.
"Playing volleyball on sand is different and we were a bit nervous.
"The Singapore team was too strong, but we hope to do better in our next match."
There are no beaches in landlocked Mongolia, and the inexperience of 17-year-olds Nomio and Namuun showed against the more seasoned Yi Ting and Dorita.
Last year, the Singaporean pair won the inter-school beach volleyball competition for Presbyterian High School.
The Mongolians did give the local favourites an early scare when they took a 3-1 lead.
But after drawing level at 7-7, Yi Ting and Dorita never looked back.
"We were nervous initially, but we managed to calm down when we took the lead," said Singapore's No 1 Yi Ting, who credited the victory to good communication.
Indeed, the duo's voices reverberated around centre court at Siloso as they shouted instructions to each other.
They face Kazakhstan at 10am on Thursday in a battle for top spot in Group G.
But the competition is over for Nomio and Namuun, who were beaten 21-10, 21-7 by Kazakhstan in their second game on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Republic's boys' team of Qing Shan and Melvin Goh bounced back from an opening 21-17, 21-14 loss to Sri Lanka to beat Japan 21-14, 21-18 later in the day in Group B action.
They face Saudi Arabia on Thursday at 11am needing a win to qualify for the knock-out stages. - TODAY
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