Formidable Korea, fresh from beating Thailand in their opening clash on Saturday, demolished Saudi Arabia in thrilling straight sets for two wins on the trot to capture the top spot in Pool B in the 2023 AVC Challenge Cup for Men at University of Taipei Hall on Sunday.
Korea, current world No.33 and bronze medallists at the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup in Seoul, had already beaten world No.60 Thailand in straight sets on Saturday, the opening day of this topflight tournament, the qualifying process in which the eventual champions will make the cut for the FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup in Doha, Qatar in late July and open up their opportunity to get promoted and compete in the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
On Sunday, Korea, fielding five key players who competed in the last year’s VCC including star spiker Heo Subong, Im Donghyeok and Park Kyeongmin, put it past Saudi Arabia 25-17, 25-20, 25-23.
Im Donghyeok chipped in with 16 points including 13 attacks from 21 attempts for Korea, while Jawad Alkhawaher led Saudi Arabia with 11 points on the team’s loss.
With two straight wins, Korea are assured of capturing the top spot in Pool B. Saudi Arabia will next go up against Thailand, former successive four-time South East Asian (SEA) Games winners, to fight for the second place in the Pool.
In Pool D at Taipei Gym, Philippines handed Macao, China the second loss in Taipei on Sunday after powering past the unfancied opponents in comfortable straight sets 25-21, 25-15, 25-14.
No player from both teams scored double-digit marker in this match, with Marck Jesus Espejo claiming 9 points from 7 attacks and two aces for Philippines. Chan Ka Lon scored 6 points on the Macao, China’s losing effort.
Following two successive losses, Macao, China are quite certain of finishing the third place in Pool D. On Monday, Philippines will fight it out with Mongolia, which earlier routed Macao, China in straight sets, to vie for the top spot in Pool D.
Australia, which received a bye from Pakistan following their late withdrawal from the tournament, won two in a row in Pool E when the current world No.37 pulled off a hard-fought four-set 25-23, 25-16, 33-35, 25-20 victory against Vietnam, bronze medallists at the recent SEA Games in Cambodia, at Taipei Gym on Sunday.
Australia proved a class above Vietnam, dominating the South East Asian side all the skills of the game with 63 attack points, 15 blocks and 10 aces. However, the Vietnamese had the edge on the opponents’ error with 33 points against Australia’s 20.
Matthew Aubrey topscored with 22 points from 20 attacks and two aces for Australia, while Tu Thanh Thuan led Vietnam with 18 points including 16 attacks from 37 attempts.
Australia had fallen out of the men’s VNL 2022 and had to look for their way back through the VCC in Korea, but their hopes were dashed completely on the first competition day when the home team knocked them out in a hard-fought five-setter.
However, with eight key players who competed in the last year’s VCC in Korea back to strengthen the team, Australia proved to be one of the strongest teams to be reckoned with in the on-going 2023 AVC Challenge Cup for Men in Taipei.
The 14-man Australian squad is led by 250-game captain Luke Perry and includes Queensland outside hitter Matthew Kemp who made his first senior appearance in the national colours. To sharpen their skills ahead of the tournament, Australia underwent a short training in Bangkok and had a friendly match with Thailand senior men’s national team.
As two straight wins had already guaranteed Aussies the top spot in Pool E, Vietnam, which are due to take on Pakistan on Monday, are also certain of finishing second in the Pool, with the withdrawn Pakistan in third place.
In Pool F at University of Taipei Hall, world No.74 Bahrain survived a scare from Sri Lanka to beat the fighting rivals in hard-fought four-set thriller 28-26, 25-20, 26-28, 26-24.
Mohamed Abdulla Yagoob scored a team-high 22 points for Bahrain, while Mahmood Ahmed Abdulwahed and Ali Khamis Ebrahim kept good company to add 16 and 14 points respectively. Weerappulige Tharusha Chamath Dilshan contributed massive 24 points on the Sri Lanka’s loss.
The Sri Lankans, who have already lost in straight sets to Indonesia on Saturday, succumbed to two losses in a row to end their pool play in third place. Bahrain will go up against the defending and consecutive three-time SEA Games gold medallists Indonesia on Monday to determine the Pool F winners.
The pool round-robin preliminaries continue through Monday, with Mongolia taking on Philippines, Thailand challenging Saudi Arabia and Indonesia playing Bahrain.
At the end of the preliminaries on Monday, the drawing of lots will be held at the University of Taipei Hall, with every team requested to send at least one representative to attend the ceremony.
According to the process of the drawing of lots, the third-ranked teams in each pool (5 teams) are assigned in Pool G (1-5) and playing for 13th-17th. A drawing of lots will be conducted to decide the numbers from G1 to G5.
However, as Pakistan and Uzbekistan had bowed out of the competition, both teams will be assigned to Pool G. If Pakistan and Uzbekistan are assigned into the same match combination, the last team to be assigned in this match will be re-drawn.
The second-ranked teams in each pool will also have to be drawn to pair with the first-ranked teams in each pool.
QUICK LINKS
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