DAY 4 WRAP UP
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, June 9, 2022 – With just one match remaining for each team to complete their action-packed campaign in the pool round-robin preliminaries, defending champions Japan, China, Korea and hosts Thailand look set to to clinch semifinal berths in the 14th Asian Women’s U18 Volleyball Championship at Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium on Thursday.
Title-hotshots Japan and formidable Korea became the only two unbeaten teams without losing a single set to their respective rivals to stay atop their pools, with the former powering past Kazakhstan in straight sets 25-9, 25-17, 25-22 on Thursday to maintain their top spot in Pool B and the latter demolishing Iran in a lopsided battle 25-8, 25-12, 25-16 to surge ahead Thailand to top Pool A.
The other three teams winning their Thursday’s encounters comprised China, Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan.
China, former four-time winners loaded with strong players including Chen Xiyue, Wang Yindi and Fan Poning, showed no mercy to India in Pool B, brushing off the lower-ranked opponents in another one-sided battle of the day, winning 25-9, 25-12, 25-12. Following the disappointing loss, India left the competition site with heads bowed in despair as they netted only one win against three consecutive losses.
Chen Xiyue chipped in with 15 points for China, while Wang Yindi and Fan Poning contributed with 14 and 10 points respectively. Kavita led India with 10 points.
In another Pool B clash, Dominant Chinese Taipei lived up to their billing as they improved their performance to bag 6 points from two wins against two losses. On Thursday, Chinese Taipei pulled off a sensational straight-set 25-20, 25-17, 25-8 triumph against winless Philippines, which will face a daunting task against Japan on Saturday in their last preliminary match.
Chen Ssu-ye weighed in with massive 24 points from 21 attacks and 3 aces for Chinese Taipei, while Lu Chian-wen contributed 14 points including 13 attacks. No Philippine player reached double digits, with Kimberly Chelmei Rubin leading the team with 8 points from 6 attacks and 1 apiece from blocking and ace serve.
“We lost two games in a row. Therefore, today’s victory returned the positive mentality to the team. Winning or losing, the players have gained some lessons during this competition. We will continue to work hard. We would like to thank AVC and our NF for giving us this valuable international experience,” Chen Mei-Ching, head coach of Chinese Taipei, said after the match.
Earlier, Uzbekistan struggled to beat Australia in four sets 25-13, 25-15, 17-25, 26-24 to record their maiden victory and smash the Aussies’ sweet dreams of winning their very first match in this topnotch championship. Uzbekistan will next challenge Iran on Saturday, while Australia had already completed their pool preliminaries in fifth position in Pool A and are set to take on the Pool B’s 6th place on Sunday. The team losing that match will return home in 11th place in the championship.
Khusan Nasrullaev, Secretary General of Uzbekistan Volleyball Federation accompanying his team to Thailand, said after the match.
“In recent years, the Uzbekistan Volleyball Federation has been working hard to participate in international competitions. We tried to register in Asian events including the on-going Asian Women’s U18 Championship. Our girls are fighting against strong teams here. After two consecutive defeats, our team could claim our first win against Australia. I think we will achieve good results if we play with a strong will. This is only the second participation of Uzbekistan in this championship, but we will try our best to get some applause from the audience. Many thanks to the organizers and good luck to all participating teams.”
After four days of intense competition, Korea led Pool A with 9 points from three wins in succession and without dropping a set, while Thailand, which had a rest day on Thursday, also collected 9 points from consecutive three wins to stay hot on the Korea’s heels. Iran are trailing in third position with only 3 points from one win against two losses.
With only one match left ahead of completion of the pool plays, Korea and Thailand proved uncatchable for the remaining teams in Pool A. Both teams will play their last preliminary match on Saturday to determine the Pool A winners. However, Korea and Thailand are assured of securing semifinal berths as well as tickets for the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship.
Japan also maintained their unbeaten streak intact, bagging 12 points from four straight wins to stay atop Pool B, followed by China with 9 points from 3 wins against one loss to Japan on their first clash on June 6. Kazakstan are trailing in third place in Pool B with 6 points from 2 wins against 2 losses.
As Japan are unstoppable and assured of advancing to the semifinals, China will play Kazakhstan in their last preliminary match on Saturday. However, despite a would-be 3-0 win prediction against China in that match, the Kazakhs still found the tough rivals uncatchable regarding the set ratio. Therefore, Japan and China look quite certain of reaching the semifinals and securing their places in the next year’s U19 World Championship.
Friday will be the rest day for every participating team. The pool encounters will resume on Saturday, the final day of the pool plays, with Thailand going up against fired-up Korea, Iran taking on Uzbekistan, Japan meeting Philippines, Kazakhstan challenging China and Chinese Taipei playing India.
At the end of the preliminaries on Saturday, teams will be ranked respectively according to their performances. Only top two teams from each pool will make the cut for the cross semifinals, while teams finishing 3rd and 4th places from each pool will next be pitted in the classification round for 5th-8th places.
Teams finishing 5th and 6th in each pool will fight for 9th, 10th and 11th places in this top-tier championship. The respective semi-finals and final showdown will be held on Sunday and Monday.
MATCH RESULTS, STANDINGS AND MATCH SCHEDULE
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