Surabaya, Indonesia, July 25, 2024 – After a dazzling number of hard-fought matches in the pool round-robin preliminaries, reigning champions Iran, hosts Indonesia, Japan, India, Korea, Kazakhstan, China and Saudi Arabia have secured Top 8 slots in the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship at Jawa Pos Arena and Gelora Pancasila here on Thursday.
The first six teams have earlier booked their berths in round of last 8 following their back-to-back wins in their pools on Wednesday, while China and Saudi Arabia filled the remaining two vacancies after winning their decisive encounters against Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong, China respectively on Thursday.
On Thursday, the last day of the pool play, defending and seven-time champions Iran continued their onslaughts in Pool B to demolish Qatar in a completely lopsided battle 25-11, 25-10, 25-11 in 60 minutes at Jawa Pos Arena.
Opposite Abolfazl Mahdian delivered 11 points from 7 kills, one block and 3 aces for Iran, while middle blocker Shayan Mehrabi and outside hitter Matin Soghli kept good company to add 10 points apiece. No Qatari player reached double digits in scoring, with middle blocker Mugtaba Salih claiming only 6 points including 4 kills from 10 attempts.
The other Pool B clash saw former four-time champions China fight well in a tough match against Chinese Taipei to pull off dramatic four-set win 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21 in exhausting 102 minutes.
Middle blocker Gao Yuning and opposite Ke Xingyu scored 13 points apiece to steer China to the 3-1 win, while Jheng Wei-Jhih scored a match-high 24 points, all in attack, on the Chinese Taipei’s loss.
Contesting Pool A at the same arena, hosts Indonesia captured three wins in succession including a fantastic 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-20) victory against Australia on Thursday.
Opposite Dawuda Alaihi was the Indonesia’s most productive player as he scored 20 points for the host side, while middle blocker Joel McGruther led Australia with 13 points from 10 kills, 2 blocks and one ace.
Saudi Arabia also made their mark to brush off Hong Kong, China in thrilling straight sets 25-19, 25-22, 25-21.
Rashad Abuelkhir chipped in 20 points from 19 kills and one ace for Saudi Arabia, while Lam Ho Wong led Hong Kong, China with 17 points, all in attack.
At Gelora Pancasila, Bangladesh swept Kuwait in comfortable straight sets in Pool C 25-15, 25-15, 25-11 in 56 minutes.
Outside hitter Ratul led the Bangladesh’s offense with 16 points, all in attack, while skipper and opposite Ali Dashti bagged 9 points including 8 kills from 26 attempts for Kuwait.
Former three-time winners Japan struggled to beat India, silver medallists at the previous edition in Riffa, Bahrain two years ago, with tie-break win 25-14, 25-15, 25-27, 17-25, 15-13.
Opposite Hiroki Bito was on fire in attack. He scored a match-high 22 points from 18 kills, 3 blocks and one ace for Japan. Outside hitter Shunta Ono and fellow outside hitter Taiki Shirono contributed 20 and 9 points respectively. Opposite Aryan Baliyan led India with 17 points, all in attack.
In Pool D, Vietnam played a see-saw battle against Thailand to stun the fourth place in Riffa 3-2 (25-12, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-11 in exhausting 118 minutes.
Opposite Trinh Ngoc Dat scored a match-high 23 points from 17 kills, 5 blocks and one ace for Vietnam, while Kittipong Sangsak, who landed the Best Outside Spiker award at the previous edition in Riffa, Bahrain two years ago, was also in devastating form to score 23 points from 21 kills and 2 blocks for Thailand.
Former six-time champions Korea proved a class above Kazakhstan to beat the opponents 3-1 (25-18, 19-25, 25-20, 25-13).
Powerful Lee Woo-Jin, who won the Best Outside Hitter award at the last year’s FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship in Argentina, led Korea with a match-high 22 points from 20 kills, one block and one ace. Opposite Klim Ryukhov led Kazakhstan with 15 points from 14 kills and one ace.
At the end of the pool play on Thursday, Indonesia topped Pool A with 9 points from three straight wins, while Saudi Arabia finished second with 6 points from two wins against one loss.
Hong Kong, China came in third place with 3 points from one win against two losses and Australia lost three matches in a row to finish fourth place with no point earned.
Mighty Iran dominated Pool B with 9 points from three wins in succession and became the only team in the one-week championship not to drop a single set to their respective opponents in the pool play.
China had 6 points from two wins against one loss to come in second place. Chinese Taipei finished third with 3 points from one win against two losses, while winless Qatar came in fourth place overall with no point earned.
In Pool C, Japan captured the top spot with 8 points from three wins on the trot, while India had 6 points from two wins against one loss to come in second place. Bangladesh finished third position with 4 points from one win against two losses and lacklustre Kuwait ended in fourth place without scoring a point.
Korea topped Pool D with 9 points from three wins in a row, while Kazakhstan had 5 points from two wins against one loss. Vietnam finished third place with 2 points from one win against two losses, while Thailand came in fourth place with 2 points from three straight losses.
With top two teams from each pool advancing to the Top 8 round, teams finishing third and fourth places from each pool were relegated to classification round for 9th-16th places.
As a result, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia from Pool A, Iran and China from Pool B, Japan and India from Pool C and Korea and Kazakhstan from Pool D entered the Top 8 round, with Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and India fighting it out in Pool E and Iran, China, Korea and Kazakhstan pitted against each other in Pool F.
The remaining lower-ranked teams will next contest the classification round for 9th-16th places, with Hong Kong China, Australia, Bangladesh and Kuwait competing in Pool G and Chinese Taipei, Qatar, Vietnam and Thailand battling it out in Pool H.
Friday, July 26 is the rest day for recovery. The competition resumes on Saturday and Sunday with 1st-8th playoff matches and classification round for 9th-16th places.
POOL RANKING AND RESULTS
POOL A
POOL B
POOL C
POOL D
MATCH SCHEDULE
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