Korea beat Thailand 3-1 to complete the podium
Jiangmen, China, July 9, 2024 – China were crowned champions of the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship following epic tie-break win against reigning and consecutive two-time champions Japan in the highly-anticipated final showdown at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium here on Tuesday night.
The Chinese turned the electric atmosphere of the gymnasium into one of the absolute joy with the dramatic 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 14-25, 15-10) victory against Japan in the gold medal match of the 22nd edition of the championship that handed the host nation the 13th title with remarkable unbeaten record and made the home crowd of approximately 4,000 inside the competition site erupted in celebration.
With the 13th title achieved on Tuesday night, China had already captured titles in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2024. Furthermore, the Chinese have already faced off against Japan in 13 finals of this topflight championship and clinched eight titles, leaving Japan to take the remaining five.
The China’s win was also a sweet revenge for their loss two times in succession to Japan in the previous two editions. In 2018 in Bac Ninh, Vietnam, China lost to Japan in straight sets in the final clash and again at the 2022 edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, they went down in another straight sets to Japan in the upset showdown.
In the Wednesday’s clash, outside hitter Dong Yuhan delivered 20 points from 13 kills, 3 blocks and 4 aces for China, while fellow outside hitter Li Chenxuan and opposite and skipper Wang Yindi added 16 and 12 points respectively. Outside hitter Miku Akimoto scored a match-high 26 points from 25 kills and one ace on the Japan’s loss. Another two outside hitters Anna Uemura and Sae Omuri contributed 15 and 12 points respectively.
The Chinese dominated the blocking game, getting 14 stuffs to Japan’s six and did a very good job of leading their opponents in aces (10 to 2), beside benefitted from more opponent errors (22 to 20). Japan fared better in kills (70 to 56).
The nine-day championship served as the Asian qualification tournament for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship. As China, current world champions, have automatically qualified, the remaining top four teams in Jiangmen – Japan (second place), Korea (third place), Thailand (fourth place) and Vietnam (fifth place) will also qualify for the next year’s world meet.
In the bronze-medal match earlier, formidable Korea pulled off hard-fought 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23) win against Thailand, the team they lost 2-3 in the third-place playoff clash at the previous edition in Kazakhstan two years ago, in the bronze medal match on Tuesday.
The victory in the bronze medal match in Jiangmen brought Korea back to the podium in the championship for the first time since 2014 in Chinese Taipei, when they claimed bronze following dramatic 3-2 win against Thailand.
Middle blocker Lee Jiyun delivered 18 points from 13 kills, 4 blocks and one ace for Korea, while Kim Sebeen and Lee Jua kept good company to contribute 15 and 14 points respectively. Warisara Seetaloed was the most productive player in this match, but could not steer Thailand to the win. She scored a match-high 29 points including 26 attacks from 61 attempts on the team’s loss.
Meanwhile, 5th-8th place playoff matches came to a close on Monday, while the classification round for 9th-12th places were completely contested on Sunday.
Vietnam finished fifth place, while Chinese Taipei ended in sixth position. Kazakhstan came in seventh place, with India in eighth position. Iran returned with the ninth, while New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong China finished 10th, 11th and 12th places respectively.
The awards presentation and closing ceremony took place shortly after the final match on Tuesday night. Newly-crowned champions China stretched their aura of invincibility to 13 titles, avenging Japan for their straight-set loss in the showdown in 2018 and 2022 respectively.
China took the Champions’ Trophy and gold medals.
Japan picked up silver.
Korea claimed bronze medals.
The individual awards were also presented to players with outstanding performances, while the organisers presented China’s outside hitter and skipper Wang Yindi the Most Valuable Player recognition, a well-deserved reward for her top-level performance throughout this very successful competition.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
BEST OUTSIDE HITTERS: Warisara Seetaloed (No.12 Thailand) and Li Chenxuan (No.5 China)
BEST MIDDLE BLOCKER: Chen Houyu (No.8 China)
BEST MIDDLE BLOCKER: Lee Jiyun (No.15 Korea)
BEST OPPOSITE SPIKER: Miku Akimoto (No.1 Japan)
BEST SETTER: Nina Kumagai (No.12 Japan)
BEST LIBERO: Sun Wanton (No.12 China)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Wang Yindi (No.6 China)
FINAL RANKING
1. CHINA
2. JAPAN
3. KOREA
4. THAILAND
5. VIETNAM
6. Chinese Taipei
7. Kazakhstan
8. India
9. Iran
10. New Zealand
11. Australia
12. Hong Kong, China
POOL RANKING 1-4
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