Hangzhou, China, July 7, 2023 – Undefeated China and Japan set up the final showdown on Saturday evening following their convincing wins against Chinese Taipei and Thailand in the Friday’s semifinals of the 1st Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province and the host city for the upcoming Asian Games.
Japan became the first team to storm into the highly-anticipated final showdown and also secured a ticket to the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship after seeing off Thailand in straight sets 25-22, 25-13, 25-18 in the semifinals at Hangzhou Normal University Cangqian Gymnasium.
Hikari Kudo scored a match-high 19 points from 16 attacks, one block and 2 aces for Japan, while captain Yuzuki Baba and Rion Chuganji kept good company to add 17 points and 16 points respectively.
“We are happy to win this match and the ticket to the World Championship. We were quite disappointed that one of our players suffered an injury on court. Fortunately, we quickly recovered later as we had good servings, which helped us control the game,” said Japan head coach Saegusa Daichi.
“Truly, today we played really bad. We could not follow the game plan we had initially set. We tried to score more points but it was so difficult. My girls are very young and less experienced so they could not handle well with high pressure,” said Thailand head coach Jarun Niemtubtim after the match.
In the other semifinal clash, hosts China, steered by promising Yang Shuming, powered past Chinese Taipei in comfortable straight sets 25-18, 25-17, 25-18 at Hangzhou Normal University Cangqian Gymnasium.
Captain Yang Shuming topped the leaderboard with 25 points for China, while middle blocker Chen Pinyu scored 21 points on the Chinese Taipei’s losing effort.
“I don’t think we have performed well to the full extent. Before this championship, we didn’t have any match with any other team, so my girls felt quite tense on court.” said China head coach Kuang Qi.
“During the match, it’s normal to lose some points. But I believe, as you can see, we were at the upper hand in terms of individual abilities. As long as we stabilize the basic actions, it wouldn’t be hard to win.”
“We trained for only one and a half month since this April, which was quite short. We’ll see if we can make it to Top 3. But I don’t think we’ve played our best so we will try to improve in our remaining matches,” said Chinese Taipei captain Ho Cheng-hua.
Meanwhile, in the Classification Round for 5th-8th places, Kazakhstan brandished their superiority over Macao, China as they claimed a sensational straight-set 25-4, 25-9, 25-12 win in a totally one-sided battle against the unfancied rivals at Deqing Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Ayaulym Amerzhan chipped in with 10 points, with Nargiz Aitugan adding 9 points.
“Kazakhstan are a strong team with tall players. We found it rather difficult to overcome the taller blockers. Anyway, through the matches, we’ve gained experience and found our weakness to improve in the near future,” said Zeng Yunfei, middle blocker of Macao, China.
Iran also performed well to put it past Uzbekistan for a convincing 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-20) victory against Uzbekistan in the other 5th-8th playoff encounter at Deqing Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Iran’s captain and outside hitter Ghadamitabaghdehi Masi top-scored with 18 points from 14 attacks and 4 ace serves, followed by Afzouni Laya and Mohammadi Nilofar with 15 and 11 points respectively.
In the last match of the Classification Round for 9th-12th places on Friday morning, captain and outside hitter Sum Yuen Tang steered Hong Kong, China to an exceptional straight-set win 25-12, 25-13, 25-20 against Australia at Deqing Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Sum Yuen Tong contributed 19 points, including 15 attacks, one block and 3 aces for Hong Kong, China.
“We tried to stick to the game play, but Hong Kong, China gave us difficulty in playing them,” said Australia’s middle blocker Maeve McCowen.
Bagging six points from two straight wins in the Classification Round for 9th-12th places, Hong Kong, China finished 9th place in the Championship. Mongolia, which held a 1-1 win/loss record, came in 10th place, while winless Australia returned with the 11th position in the inaugural Asian Women’s U16 Championship.
On Saturday, the last day of the championship, China and Japan will fight it out in the final showdown for the eventual title, while Thailand will take on Chinese Taipei in the third place playoff for bronze medal and the remaining ticket to the next year’s FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship.
Kazakhstan are due to play Iran for the fifth place and Macao, China will challenge Uzbekistan in the 7th-8th place playoff clash.
MATCH RESULTS
Saturday, July 1
10:30 Japan v Australia 3-0 (25-6, 25-12, 25-18)
10:30 Thailand v Hong Kong, China 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-16)
19:00 Opening Ceremony
19:30 China v Mongolia 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-16)
Sunday, July 2
10:30 Kazakhstan v Thailand 2-3 (25-23, 11-25, 14-25, 25-23, 8-15)
10:30 Iran v Japan 0-3 (16-25, 19-25, 20-25)
15:00 Uzbekistan v China 0-3 (7-25, 10-25, 8-25)
Monday, July 3
10:30 Mongolia v Uzbekistan 0-3 (11-25, 18-25, 22-25)
10:30 Hong Kong, China v Kazakhstan 2-3 (31-29, 25-23, 11-25, 14-25, 15-17)
15:00 Australia v Iran 0-3 (15-25, 20-25, 16-25)
15:00 Chinese Taipei v Macao, China 3-0 (25-9, 25-7, 25-4)
Tuesday, July 4
10:30 Mongolia v Hong Kong, China 1-3 (21-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-25)
15:00 Thailand v Uzbekistan 3-0 (25-4, 25-7, 25-7)
19:00 China v Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-6)
15:00 Japan v Macao, China 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-4)
19:00 Chinese Taipei v Iran 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-15)
Wednesday, July 5
Rest Day
Thursday, July 6
10:30 Mongolia v Australia 3-1 (25-14, 25-22, 24-26, 25-19)
15:00 Uzbekistan v Kazakhstan 0-3 (17-25, 22-25, 14-25)
19:00 China v Thailand 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-10)
15:00 Iran v Macao, China 3-0 (25-5, 25-9, 25-10)
19:00 Japan v Chinese Taipei 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-10)
Friday, July 7
10:30 Australia v Hong Kong, China 0-3 (12-25, 13-25, 20-25)
15:00 Kazakhstan v Macao, China 3-0 (25-4, 25-9, 25-12)
19:00 Uzbekistan v Iran 0-3 (9-25, 19-25, 20-25)
15:00 Thailand v Japan 0-3 (22-25, 13-25, 18-25)
19:00 China v Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-18)
MATCH SCHEDULE (All local times)
Saturday, July 8
15:00 Final 7-8: Macao, China v Uzbekistan
19:00 Final 5-6: Kazakhstan v Iran
15:00 Bronze Medal Match: Thailand v Chinese Taipei
19:00 Gold Medal Match: Japan v China
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation