Urmia, Iran, August 24, 2023 – Continental giants China and Qatar marched through to the semi-finals of the 22nd Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship on Thursday in Urmia, Iran.
The Chinese overcame a rough start to oust Korea in four sets, while the Qataris outclassed Chinese Taipei in a three-set shutout to book their tickets to Friday’s last four.
There, China will face a monumental task as they take on reigning and consecutive two-time champions and hosts Iran, which are vying for an historic treble. Qatar, meanwhile, will go against world number five Japan in a meeting between two teams that have yet to concede a set in the competition.
The Iranians and Japanese were idle on Thursday, both awaiting their semis opponents. As per the tournament’s unique format, the pair had direct berths to the final four following their victories in the round of 12 on Wednesday.
Also emerging triumphant on Thursday were Thailand and Indonesia in their seventh-to-12th ranking games; as well as Kazakhstan and Afghanistan in the 13th-to-16th bracket.
China gave up the first set against their Korean counterparts but roared back from there. They were dominant in the fourth-set clincher to secure the emphatic 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 28-26, 25-18) victory.
China enjoyed a balanced scoring output with four players in double figures. Opposite spiker Zhang Guanhua had 15 points including three blocks to spearhead the Chinese, who are looking to improve on their bronze-medal finish from the previous edition two years ago.
Middle blocker Miao Ruantong and outside hitter Wang Bin added 13 apiece, with Miao posting five blocks, while outside hitter Deng Xinpeng chipped in with 12 points, also with three blocks.
Korea outside hitter Jung Jiseok had 20 points to pace his team in the loss, while opposite Heo Subong contributed 15 markers. The Koreans will next lock horns with Chinese Taipei Friday to play for fifth place overall.
Qatar maintained their winning ways and barged into the last four with their 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-23) demolition of Chinese Taipei. Having finished fifth in the 2021 tournament, the Qataris are now assured of a better final ranking and possibly a medal in Urmia.
Raimi Wadidie was yet again their leading scorer with 17 points, while fellow-outside hitter Youssef Oughlaf added 13. Middle blocker Belal Nabel Abunabot contributed eight points in their win, four of which came on blocks.
Chang Yu-Sheng scored 13 for Chinese Taipei, while fellow-opposite Wu Tsung-Hsuan had nine.
“I congratulate the Qatar team for playing better,” said Chinese Taipei’s Serbian head coach Moro Branislav. “The height of their players was key in their blocking. They also had better service today.”
Chinese Taipei captain Tai Ju-Chien added: “We knew that Qatar is a strong team. We were weak in our serves and reception, and could not win the match.”
In Friday’s semi-finals, Japan and Qatar face off at 4:15 pm local time, followed by Iran taking on China at 7.15pm. Those games will headline a packed eight-match programme that begins from 10:15am at the two playing courts of Urmia’s Al Ghadir Hall.
In Thursday’s classification play, Thailand battled back from a set down to overcome Iraq 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-18) in a 7th-to-12th ranking affair.
Skipper Anut Promchan paced the Thais with an impressive 25 points, mostly in attack, while outside hitter Anurak Phanram added 14 and opposite Napadet Bhinijdee had 13. Thailand will next face Bahrain on Friday as they aim for as high as seventh overall.
“We do not have a specific goal,” said Thailand’s Korean head coach Park Ki Won. “We just play.”
Setter Boonyarid Wongtorn added: “Today, our teamwork helped us win against Iraq. We will try to make as few mistakes as possible [in our remaining games].”
Opposite spiker Omar Ali Ahmed had 17 markers and middle blocker Ismal Sachit Challab Matrawi contributed 14 for the Iraqis, who wrap up their tournament campaign on Friday when they play India for 11th place overall.
Matrawi commented: “In the first set, we had less mistakes and managed the game well. There was no special reason for our loss; it was mostly due to the pressure of the match.”
Indonesia swept past India 3-0 (31-29, 25-18, 25-12) in another seventh-to-12th ranking contest.
Outside hitter Halim Farhan led the Indonesians with 19 points, while opposite hitter Agil Angga Anggara added 17, all in attack. Ashwal Rai paced the Indians with 10 points, while skipper Vinit Kumar had eight in the loss.
“There was a lot of pressure on my players and we told them to play without stress,” said head coach Jiang Jie of Indonesia, which move on to face Pakistan in the ensuing seventh-to-10th bracket.
Skipper Hernanda Zulfi added: “We served well in this match and had high self-confidence.”
India’s opposite spiker Jerome Vinith Charles commented: “We were not prepared enough for this match, and we gave up playing well.”
Head coach Jaideep Sarkar was all praise for the vibrant championship experience in Urmia and the warm support of the fans. “There is a beautiful atmosphere in the stadium of Urmia, and I can boldly say that there is no such atmosphere anywhere in the world,” he said. “Volleyball is really part of the culture of this city.”
In a 13th-to-16th contest, Kazakhstan defeated Hong Kong, China 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-17).
Outside hitter Boris Kempa and Ilya Tavolzhanskiy each finished with 10 points to lead the Kazakhs, with Tavolzhanskiy delivering three service winners in their win. Kazakhstan will now face Afghanistan for 13th place to end the tournament.
“We improved game by game in this tournament and will enter the court with full preparation tomorrow,” said Kazakh head coach Boris Grebennikov. “I am satisfied with the last two competitions and the positive point of these competitions was the growing trend of the team.”
Kazakhstan skipper Nodirkhan Kadirkhanov added: “We have a chance to win 13th place and this is important to us. We have improved day by day and although we had problems, we fought with all of our strength for the win against Hong Kong, China.”
Opposite Chun Ho, Damian Tam did most of the scoring for Hong Kong, China, finishing with 15 points.
“Physically, we were far from the professional team of Kazakhstan; however we had to show our effort to reach our goal until the end of the match,” Hong Kong, China head coach Dragan Mihailovic said.
Team captain Cheong Hung Siu added: “The Hong Kong, China team is changing its generation and this is the reason for the fluctuation in our performance. This happened due to not having enough focus and not having enough energy in the team. We will definitely improve in the next few events.”
Afghanistan were 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-21) victors over Bangladesh in another 13th-to-16th classification fixture Thursday.
They conceded the opening set but fought back to claim the victory, led by team captain Mohammad Sabawoon Wardak’s 22 points, which included four blocks. Outside hitter Ghulam Rasool Hidari added 19 for Afghanistan.
Horosit Biswas was the top scorer for Bangladesh with 21 points, while middle blocker MD Sujon contributed 15, including four on blocks.
Hong Kong, China and Bangladesh will go head-to-head Friday for 15th place overall.
Elsewhere on Thursday, Uzbekistan were officially ranked 17th in the championship. The tournament was originally set to feature a total of 18 participating teams, but Mongolia withdrew at the last minute.
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FINAL STANDING
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