DAY 2 WRAPUP
Jiangmen, China, January 8, 2020 – Iran, Qatar and China made it two in succession to ensure their semi-final berths at the AVC Men’s Tokyo Qualification 2020 at the Jiangmen Sports Centre Gymnasium on Wednesday, with the embattled hosts surviving a Chinese Taipei’s huge scare to join the fray.
As the afore-mentioned trio have already secured their tickets in the semi-finals, Australia and Korea need a must-win match on Thursday, the final day of the pool round-robin preliminaries to enhance their chances of making the cut for the semi-finals.
Korea now have 4 points and need a win against the Qataris to make sure that they will have enough points to get them through to the semi-finals. At the same time, Australia, which now have only 2 points, must beat India to make sure overall 5 points can be within their reach to help brighten their opportunity.
On Wednesday, hosts China, current world No.20 and former three-time Asian winners, made it two for two at home in Pool A when they struggled hard to beat gallant Chinese Taipei with a magnificent come-from-behind 3-2 (15-25 25-16 23-25 25-22 15-9) win in a crucial encounter which lasted exhausting 127 minutes.
The hard-fought win before a large crowd of home spectators cheering them all the way got their Olympic dreams back on track after the see-saw battle almost let them down with the disappoint loss to the in-form Chinese Taipei. Fortunately, they improved their fortunes upon their upgraded performance at home stretch in the decider.
Instrumental captain Jiang Chuan scored a match-high 28 points from 26 attacks and 2 blocks for China, while Dai Qingyao kept good company to contribute 20 points including 18 attacks from 34 attempts. Wang Ming-Chun topscored with 21 points for Chinese Taipei.
China are due to be pitted against Iran in a match to determine the top spot of Pool A on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Iran, filled with world-class talents but fielding substitutions on Wednesday, struggled in the first set in their tough match against Kazakhstan but cruised comfortably through the last two sets to storm their ways to the semi-finals.
The World No.8 and current Asian champions spent 80 minutes in putting it past Kazakhstan in straight sets 28-26 25-16 25-18. Kazakhstan, which suffered their first loss to hosts China the previous day, could not make it to the semi-finals and will return home, sad and heart-broken, after completion of their last preliminary match against Chinese Taipei on Thursday.
Iran on Wednesday rested their key players comprising Milad Ebadipour Ghara H, Mir Saeid Marouflakrani, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi, Purya Fayazi and Aliasghar Mojarad and sent in a young, potential lineup spearheaded by Morteza Sharifi and Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, while Kazakhstan fielded a formidable lineup mixed between young players and veterans including Maxim Michshenko and Mikhail Ustinov.
In Pool B, Korea’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals still ran high when the world No.24 ousted India in hard-fought three-setter 25-19 25-20 25-23 to claim their first win at the AVC Men’s Tokyo Qualification 2020 here.
Jung Jiseok chipped in with 12 points for Korea including 10 attacks from 16 attempts, while Shin Yungsuk kept good company to add 10 points including 8 attacks. Amit Amit emerged as the top scorer of India after bagging 13 points from his lightning-fast attacks.
Korea and India had their sights firmly set on winning the Wednesday’s crucial match to keep their hopes of advancing to the semi-finals alive. Both teams started strongly, but Korea, silver medallists at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, proved a cut above the rivals. Korea will go up against Qatar in their last match on Thursday.
Earlier, tall and towering Qatar played exceptionally well in their tough match against Australia on Wednesday to pull off a scintillating straight-set 25-15 25-21 25-23 win in their second encounter in this top-tier competition.
Geraldo Graciano Da Silver Filho chipped in with 14 points for Qatar including 11 attacks from 25 attempts, while Beau Graham led Australia with 7 points including 4 attacks and a team-leading 3 blocks.
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