Considering the event is very similar to one of their most popular sports of sepak takraw, Thai success was not much of a surprise, with the only real difference between the two being that a large beach ball was used here rather than a smaller, woven one made of synthetic material.

This deemed controlling the ball that much harder, meaning rallies were shorter and invariably decided by consistency and ingenuity rather than spectacular skill, as was more the norm in the sepak takraw competition during the Asian Games in Incheon in September.

But the result was a continuation of the Thai domination seen there, as Thanee Ruangsri and Winai Thonglai cruised to a 18-8, 18-11 victory in just over an hour over their Iranian opponents, much to the delight of a packed arena of partisan fans, many of whom sported national costumes and colours.

With players bare foot, and using their head, chest and shoulder as well as their feet to control the ball, it is not hard to imagine why the sport is popular in countries like Brazil, Australia and Italy, and it is difficult to think of a sport better suited to the beach.

In fact, after the monsoon like conditions ahead of the Opening Ceremony yesterday, the hot sun today created an ambience perfectly suited to a Beach Games, as locals, athletes, and tourists simply curious to see what was going on all came together to enjoy the action.

China and Kazakhstan shared the spoils on a tough day of marathon swimming action ©Phuket 2014



On a day where water temperatures were over 30 degrees, Shi Yu of China won the gruelling women's five kilometre marathon swimming race, before Kazakhstan's Vitaliy Khudyakov triumphed in the corresponding men's event.

The competitors in the sprint duathlon would have been wishing for a chance to swim to cool themselves off, particularly those not from Japan, as the Far Eastern nation cycled and ran their way to all three titles in the sport.

Rye Sueoka won in a one-two finish in the men's event and Yurie Kato took the women's title, before the pair formed part of a dominant mixed team, who finished comfortably clear of Taiwan with Uzbekistan third.

A strong Qatar team started well with victory over Japan in beach handball ©Phuket 2014



There was also plenty of attention on the combat sports, where the challenge was maintaining footing on the uneven sandy surface as well as grappling with the opposition.

Mohummad Naderi of Iran and Hikaru Aono of Japan took titles in beach wrestling, while there won more Iranian success in kurash - a variant of wrestling particularly popular in Central Asia - courtesy of Ghanbar Ali Ghanbari.

Away from the medals on the first day of official action following the Opening Ceremony, action also took place today in a multitude of other sports, including beach handball, beach basketball, beach soccer, pétanque, sport climbing, woodball and squash.

In the former, Qatar's men continued with the form they showed in winning Asian Games gold in Incheon earlier this year by impressively defeating Japan, 21-14, 19-15.

Tomorrow will see another surfeit of top quality beach sport, with the highlights including the men and women's singles finals in squash, as well as medals in sport climbing, pétanque, water skiing, kurash and wrestling.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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