Jiangmen, China, July 3, 2024 – China, Japan, Thailand and Korea topped their pools without dropping a set at the conclusion of the pool round-robin preliminaries on Wednesday, as teams qualified for round of last 8 had been confirmed for the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium.
Reigning champions Japan and Korea had already completed their pool play on Tuesday to become the first two teams to qualify for the last 8 stage, while the remaining spots had been unveiled on Wednesday for China, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and India.
On Wednesday, the last day of the pool play, fired-up China, spearheaded by opposite and skipper Wang Yindi and middle blocker Shan Linqian, both of them played in the gold-winning China team at the last year’s FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship in Mexico, stormed past Australia in comfortable straight sets 25-13, 25-15, 25-13 in Pool A.
Wang Yindi delivered a match-high 16 points from 13 kills, one block and two aces for China, while outside hitter Guo Xiangling and fellow outside hitter Dong Yuhan contributed 9 and 7 points respectively. Ella Schubort scored 9 points, all in attack, on the Australia’s loss.
Earlier in Pool B, India bounced back from losing the first two sets to beat Hong Kong, China in well-fought five sets 16-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16, 15-7 to finish second in the Pool and join Japan in the round of last 8.
Opposite Arasu Ananthi scored a match-high 24 points from 22 kills and 2 aces, while outside hitter and skipper Kavita and Kaenwar Raksha Vinod contributed 21 and 11 points respectively. Tang Sum Yuen led Hong Kong, China with 19 points including 17 kills from 50 attempts.
In Pool C, Thailand, bronze medallists at the previous edition, advanced to round of last 8 following consecutive two wins including the convincing straight-set victory 25-14, 25-22, 25-17 against Iran on Wednesday.
Outside hitter Warisara Seetaloed chipped in 19 points from 17 kills and 2 aces for Thailand, while Nakarinporn Budda and Thipsuda Bualai contributed 9 and 8 points respectively. Shaghayegh Hassankhani led Iran with 13 points, all in attack.
Chinese Taipei downed New Zealand in straight sets 25-15, 25-15, 26-24 in Pool D to join unbeaten Korea in the round of last 8.
Hsu Fang-Min was the most productive player in this match with 18 points from 15 kills, 2 blocks and one ace for Chinese Taipei, while Chang Yi-Chi and Lin Liang-Tai added 9 and 7 points respectively. No New Zealand’s player reached double digits, with Kalea Norton scoring 7 points including 4 kills from 7 attempts on the team’s loss.
After action-packed three days of the pool play in the nine-day championship, which serves as Asian qualification for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship, China, Kazakhstan, Japan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and Chinese Taipei advanced to the round of last 8, while four lower-ranked sides consisting of Australia, Hong Kong China, Iran and New Zealand were relegated to classification round for 9th-12th places.
China, current world champions and silver medallists at the previous edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan two years ago, made a clean sweep in Pool A with 6 points from two consecutive wins, followed by Kazakhstan with 2 points from one win against one loss and winless Australia, which bagged one point in their exhausting five-set battle against Kazakhstan.
Japan captured the top spot in Pool B with 6 points from two wins in a row, while India finished second with 2 points from one win against one loss and Hong Kong, China came in third place with one point in their hard-fought five sets against the Indians.
Pool C was dominated by undefeated Thailand with 6 points from two wins in succession. Vietnam finished second with 3 points from one win against one loss, while winless Iran came in third position with no point earned.
Korea had unbeaten record of 6 points from two successive wins to top Pool D. Chinese Taipei finished second with 3 points from one win against one loss, while New Zealand did not win a single set to come in third place.
In the much-anticipated last 8 stage, teams from Pool A and Pool C will contest playoff matches in Pool E, with teams from Pool B and Pool D testing their mettle in Pool F. After that, only top two teams from each pool (Pool E and Pool F) will progress to the semifinals, while the four lower-ranked sides (teams finishing 3rd and 4th places from Pool E and Pool F) will battle it out in classification round for 5th-8th places.
As a result, China, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Vietnam will next compete in Pool E, while Pool F comprised Japan, India, Korea and Kazakstan.
Teams qualified for the last 8 stage will have a rest day on Thursday, while the last 8 playoff matches are due to be held on July 5 and 6.
Meanwhile, teams relegated to classification round for 9th-12th places will contest the playoff matches on Thursday, July 4, with Australia challenging Iran and New Zealand taking on Hong Kong, China.
MATCH SCHEDULE
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