Seoul, Korea, August 24, 2019 – Chinese Taipei overcame a serious threat from Indonesia to beat the South East Asian rivals in dramatic four-set thriller 25-20 25-18 23-25 28-26 in their 5th-8th playoff match at the 20th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
Chinese Taipei showed a distinctly stronger play in the first set, which they won 25-20. Conceding one set, Indonesia bounced back in the second set with aims of making amends for the loss in the opener. Still, Chinese Taipei’s power and impressive combination attacks proved too much for the rivals as the Indonesians went down 18-25.
Indonesia regained their form in the third set to come up with powerful cross-court attacks and blocks. Though Chinese Taipei stayed focused, their game was riddled with unforced mistakes, leaving the Indonesians to let loose their attacks for the set win 25-23.
Indonesia still gained the upper hand in the fourth set, giving Chinese Taipei much pressure. Both teams traded points through their attacks and blocks. As Indonesia went on their fierce attacks from Nuari Purnama and Wulandri Ratri, Chang Li-Wen became the backbone of Chinese Taipei as she attacked from all corners to help her team surge ahead the Indonesians to win the exciting set 28-26 and match.
Following the win, Chinese Taipei will next fight it out with Kazakhstan for the 5th position, while Indonesia had been relegated to the classification round for 7th-8th places.
Japanese Koji Tsuzurabara, head coach of Chinese Taipei, said, “Overall we had a good game today. However, we had a lot of young players in our team who participated in this game which, I think, is the reason why it became a bit intense later. We have targeted the fifth position here and we will do our best to win the Sunday’s game.”
Chang Li-wen, team captain of Chinese Taipei, said, “I’m very excited right now and happy that my team won the match. During the match, we constantly communicated with each other even while receiving so that we knew who was doing what.”
Another team player Chen Jia-man said, “The game started out smoothly but as substitutions were sent halfway of the game, I think we made a few mistakes. On Sunday, we will have a tough match against Kazakhstan, but we will do our best.”
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