Jiangmen, China, July 7, 2024 – Resilient Chinese Taipei put it past Kazakhstan in hard-fought three-set thriller 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 in their 5th-8th place playoff clash in the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium on Sunday.
The exceptional win has given Chinese Taipei a chance to face off against Vietnam in the Monday’s playoff encounter to determine the fifth and sixth places in this topflight nine-day championship.
Chinese Taipei, powered by hard-attacking Hsu Fang-Min and the 180cm-tall Chang Yi-Chi, came up at full strength to get this crucial match against Kazakstan off to a flying start. The Kazakh side were also strong with the hefty Ayaulym Turdykhanova and outside hitter and skipper Sofiya Gorbacheva leading the team’s offense.
Chinese Taipei put on a great form to pile an 18-9 lead and advanced to 20-13 when Chang Yi-Chi was probably the team’s best offender in their frontline, penetrating the Kazakh defence with her fine attacks. Kazakhstan regrouped and bounced back heavily.
Ayaulym brought the team back to the right track. However, her superb form came too late as Chinese Taipei moved ahead 24-21, allowing Kazakhstan only one more point from Amina Kyrykbayeva’s deceptive drop before Hsu Fang-Min hammered a deadly hit for the Chinese Taipei’s 25-22 win in the set.
The second set was also a hotly-contested. Chinese Taipei raced to a five-point clear at 17-12 and it made things clear that the score would end easily in favor of the pacesetters. However, Kazakhstan defied against all odds to gain back-to-back points to narrow the margin with just one point behind 21-22. Ayaulym produced a smart tip to hand Kazakhstan one vital point. From then on, Chinese Taipei maintained their momentum and went on their fine form to reach the set point at 24-22 and Hsu Fang-Min fired an off-speed kill to entirely dash Kazakhstan’s hopes of coming back.
Both sides poured all what they had and locked horns in the third set. Points were traded back and forth until outside hitter Lin Liang-Tai unleashed a powerful spike to move Chinese Taipei ahead 24-22, but Ayaulym hit back devastatingly to help Kazakhstan trail closely behind 23-24. On her last-gasp attempt to fight on, Ayaulym carried out a serve, but unfortunately it went into the net. Chinese Taipei jumped for joy as they now keep their hopes of a fifth-place finish alive.
Opposite Chang Yi-Chi and outside hitter Hsu Fang-Min scored 14 points apiece for Chinese Taipei, while Ayaulym Turdykhanova led Kazakhstan with 15 points including 12 attacks from 34 attempts.
Chinese Taipei are set to take on Vietnam in the 5th-6th place playoff on Monday not only to fight for the fifth position, but also the remaining spot for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship. China qualified as current world champions, while top four teams in the Asian U20 Championship in Jiangmen will also make the cut in the world meet and either Chinese Taipei or Vietnam now stand a chance of being the last qualified team to fill the spot.
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