Altay VC back to defend their Asian Women’s Club title on home soil
Bangkok, Thailand, April 19, 2022 – JT Marvelous backed out of the 2022 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship after their team members tested positive for COVID-19 and underwent a mandatory quarantine, but the Japanese withdrawal did not wreak havoc in the Kazakhstan’s organisation of the top-flight competition as Uzbekistan replaced them to join the fray.
The 2022 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship, which serves as the qualification tournament of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship 2022), is set to be held between April 24 to 30, 2022 at Abay Arena and Ushkempirov Sport School in Semey, Kazakhstan.
The one-week competition had earlier attracted 6 teams to vie for top honour and the lone ticket to contest the Club World Championship. They comprised reigning champions Altay VC (Kazakhstan), Diamond Food – Fine Chef Sport Club (Thailand), Kyrgyzstan VC (Kyrgyzstan), Barij Essence (Iran), JT Marvelous (Japan) and Kuanysh VC (Kazakhstan).
JT Marvelous
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to AVC as many team members of the Nishinomiya-based JT Marvelous have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and the Japanese squad decided to withdraw from the upcoming Asian Women’s Club Championship, only less than one week to go before the official kickoff in Semey on April 24.
Earlier, the organisers of the Japan V.League Division 1 season 2021-2022 announced the cancellation of the second leg of the Finals between JT Marvelous and Hisamitsu Springs which was due to compete last weekend because players and officials of both teams tested positive for COVID-19.
The first leg on April 10, 2022 saw Hisamitsu Springs seal a dramatic 3-1 win against JT Marvelous and the second leg match on Saturday, April 16 would decide the eventual winners. However, the cancellation of the second game resulted in Hisamitsu Springs to be declared the eventual champions, while JT Marvelous ended up in second place.
Despite the fact that JT Marvelous were eligible to contest the Asian Club Championship in Semey, the Japanese giants, which captured the V.League Division 1 for two times in a row in 2019-20 and 2020-21 in addition to the Empress’ Cup All Japan Championship in 2020, decided to withdraw from the Asian Club Championship due to the COVID-19 infection among their team members.
JT Marvelous also informed AVC of their withdrawal. However, Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh State Pedagogical Institute came to help out with difficulties, leaving the Asian Women’s Club Championship in Semey, Kazakhstan to go ahead with six teams as initially formed.
As a result, the format of play remains unchanged, with all participating teams contesting single round-robin preliminaries. At the end of the first round, top two teams will battle it out for the eventual crown, with the third- and fourth-ranked sides vying for the third place and bronze medal.
With Jizzakh State Pedagogical Institute in place of the withdrawn JT Marvelous, the Uzbek side will now take on the 2022 Thailand League champions Diamond Food – Fine Chef Sport Club in their first match on April 24.
On the same day, Altay VC, which stunned Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC in straight sets in the final showdown to be crowned the 2021 Asian Women’s Club champions, take on Kuanysh VC in the all-Kazakhs affair, while the remaining encounter sees Iran’s Barij Essence test their mettle against Kyrgyzstan VC.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation