Surabaya, Indonesia, July 23, 2024 – Iran’s first-hurdle clearance in their title defence, India’s incredible comeback for epic tie-break win and Saudi Arabia’s exceptional performance in hard-fought three-set thriller all highlighted action-packed Day 1 of the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship at Jawa Pos Arena and Gelora Pancasila here on Tuesday.
The 22nd edition of the Asian Men’s U20 Championship, which serves as the Asia’s qualification tournament for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship, got underway on Tuesday, with a strong field of 16 teams showcasing their talents in pool round-robin preliminaries in efforts of finishing top two in their respective pools to secure their slots in round of last 8 teams.
The topflight championship in Surabaya will qualify four teams excluding Iran for the next year’s U21 World Championship. As current world champions, Iran have automatically qualified.
Six out of eight matches contested on Tuesday saw strong teams power past spirited opponents with straight-set sweeps. Chinese Taipei beat Qatar 3-0, Saudi Arabia beat Australia 3-0, Iran beat China 3-0, hosts Indonesia beat Hong Kong, China 3-0, Japan beat Kuwait 3-0 and Korea beat Vietnam 3-0. Only two matches turned out to be hotly-contested, with India beating Bangladesh 3-2 and Kazakhstan beating Thailand with the similar margin 3-2.
At Jawa Pos Arena (Main Hall), Chinese Taipei, which finished a distant 14th position at the previous edition two years ago in Riffa, Bahrain, registered their first Pool B win in Surabaya. Powerful Jheng Wei-Jhih and Chang Hao-Po steered Chinese Taipei to comfortable straight-set 25-16, 25-13, 25-20 win against Qatar, 11th place in Riffa.
Outside hitter Jheng Wei-Jhih chipped in 12 points, all in attack, for Chinese Taipei, while fellow outside hitter Chang Hao-Po and middle blocker Chang Min-Quan added another 10 and 8 points respectively. No Qatari player reached double digits, with opposite Elzanary Badr scoring only 9 points on the team’s loss.
Chinese Taipei will next go up against defending and seven-time champions Iran, while Qatar challenge China on Wednesday.
In another Pool B encounter on Tuesday, hefty Pouya Ariakhah, who stands 205cm tall and weighs 93kg, scored a match-high 22 points to lift Iran’s hard-fought 3-0 (29-27, 25-21, 25-18) triumph over the formidable Chinese in 87 minutes.
Iran, powered by Armin Ghelichniazi, who won the Best Middle Blocker at the last year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s U19 World Championship in Argentina, and Seyed Morteza Tabatabaei, who landed the Best Libero at the afore-mentioned world meet, secured a fantastic 3-0 win against the former four-time winners China to get their title defence campaign off to a magnificent start.
Hard-attacking Pouya Ariakhah led the Iran’s scoring efforts in this tough match against China. The 18-year-old opposite was unstoppable and became the match’s top scorer with 22 points from 16 kills, 2 blocks and team-leading 4 aces. Outside hitter Seyed Matin Hosseini Tolouti and middle blocker Taha Behboudnia contributed 16 and 9 points respectively. China had three players who scored double digits, with outside hitter Zhang Zhiqiang chipping in 12 points including 8 kills from 21 attempts, middle blocker Shi Taier and outside hitter Zeng Yangjie adding 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Iran’s dominance was also visible in the match stats as the winners dominated in kills (41 to 34), blocks (13 to 7), besides benefiting from more opponent errors (19 to 18). China got more aces, prevailing in that category by 7 to 6.
Iran will next play Chinese Taipei, with China taking on Qatar.
In Pool A, Saudi Arabia, 9th place two years ago, proved a cut above Australia, which returned from Riffa two years ago with the disappointing 15th position. With an outstanding performance, the well-established Saudi Arabians struggled hard to triumph in a hard-fought three-setter 25-23, 28-26, 25-23 in 80 minutes.
Rashad Abuelkhir delivered 16 points from 14 kills, one block and one ace for Saudi Arabia, while the 208cm-tall middle blocker Mitchell Croft scored 11 points on the Australia’s loss.
Australia will next take on Hong Kong, China, while Saudi Arabia face off against hosts Indonesia.
In another Pool A clash on Tuesday, the 196cm opposite Dawuda Alaihi, the Indonesia’s tallest player, played a big part of the hosts’ convincing 3-0 (25-10, 25-21, 25-14) win against Hong Kong, China, producing 19 points from 15 kills, 2 blocks and 2 aces, while outside hitter Krisna and middle blocker Darda Mulya kept good company to contribute 12 and 11 points respectively.
Lam Ho Wong led Hong Kong, China with 11 points including 9 kills from 35 attempts.
At Gelora Pancasila (Second Hall), former three-time winners Japan made a strong start in Pool C following their exceptional straight-set 25-15, 25-14, 25-12 win against unfancied Kuwait, which finished on the bottom 17th position at the previous edition in Riffa, Bahrain.
Opposite Hiroki Bito was the Japan’s most productive player in this match as he scored 13 points from 12 kills and one ace for the team, while no Kuwaiti player reached double digits in scoring. Opposite Ali Dashti claimed 8 points, all in attack, for Kuwait.
The Kuwaitis will next go up against India, with Japan playing Bangladesh.
India, which picked up silver at the previous edition to their name, went down to the strong Bangladesh, a well-earned fifth place in Riffa, in the first two sets 21-25, 21-25, but bounced back gallantly to win the remain three sets 25-23, 25-15, 15-12 in exhausting 106 minutes.
Outside hitter Kartik Sharma tallied 21 points from 18 kills and 3 blocks for India, while opposite Aryan Baliyan and outside hitter Dhruvil Nayanbhai Patel added 17 and 14 points respectively. Skipper and outside hitter Ratul scored a match-high 24 points from 21 kills, one block and 2 aces on the Bangladesh’s loss.
In Pool D, Kazakhstan, which did not participate in the previous edition two years ago, had a see-saw battle against Thailand to stun the fourth place in Riffa with epic tie-break win 25-23, 19-25, 19-25, 31-29, 15-9 in 109 minutes.
Thailand were strong offensively with the likes of skipper Kittipong Sangsak, who landed the Best Outside Hitter at the previous edition in Riffa, Bahrain, and the 206cm-tall opposite Christopher Arli Upakam, while Kazakhstan, whose height average is 194cm against the Thai counterparts’ 189cm, took the height advantage of front-row attacks and solid blocking.
Opposite Klim Ryukhov, who stands 206cm tall, led the Kazakhstan’s offense with 21 points from 20 kills and one block, while Christopher Arli Upakam scored 21 points from 19 kills, 2 blocks and one ace on the Thailand’s stunning loss.
Thailand will next play Korea in the 2022 third-place playoff rematch, while Kazakhstan will be pitted against Vietnam.
Korea, strengthened by Lee Woo-Jin, who won the Best Outside Spiker at the last year’s U19 World Championship in Argentina, where the Koreans claimed bronze, on Tuesday pulled off a straight-set 25-22, 25-20, 25-17 win against Vietnam.
Outside hitter Yun Seojin delivered 16 points from 15 kills and one block for Korea, while opposite Trinh Ngoc Dat scored a match-high 17 points on the Vietnam’s loss.
The pool round-robin preliminaries continue through Thursday as only top two teams from each pool will after that advance to the round of last 8 teams. The remaining 8 lower-ranked sides will be relegated to classification round for 9th-16th places.
POOL RANKING AND RESULTS
POOL A
POOL B
POOL C
POOL D
MATCH SCHEDULE
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