India’s Harish attacks Korea
Manama, Bahrain, July 30, 2024 – Korea, Bahrain, Thailand and Pakistan completed the Top Eight line-up at the conclusion of the action-packed pool round-robin preliminaries on Tuesday night of the 15th Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Championship at Isa Sport City Hall C here.
A Bahraini player celebrates a point win against Australia
The foursome secured their places in the ensuing top-tier stage where they joined defending and three-time champions Japan, China, Chinese Taipei and Iran, all of whom have earlier advanced to the Top 8 round after end of their second matches on Monday.
Korean libero Hakjin is jubilant with a set win against India
These eight squads will be competing in another two pools for the right to claim the four places in the semi-finals and more importantly, four slots to compete in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship. Only top four teams in Manama will book their berths for the next year’s world meet.
Thailand, Bahrain, China and Iran are in Pool E, with Japan, Chinese Taipei, Pakistan and Korea are in Pool F. The other lower-ranked eight sides in the championship will compete in the classification round for 9th-16th places. They will also be playing in two groups. Australia, Hong Kong China, the Philippines and Lebanon are in Pool G; while Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, India and Kuwait are in Pool H.
Action in both the Top Eight and consolation round begins on Thursday and continues until Sunday, with Wednesday the rest day for recovery.
On Tuesday, Bahrain scraped through amongst the elite teams but needed to dig deep and go the distance in a nail-biting 3-2 (17-25, 36-34, 16-25, 25-20, 16-14) victory over Australia in their Pool A assignment.
The win was their first of the tournament and it earned them enough points to march through as runners-up in their group.
Korea punched their tickets with a convincing 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-17) victory against India in Pool D.
Seungil Lee delivered 21 points for Korea, while Sehoon Im contributed 13 as their attacks were too much for their rivals on the night. Harnoor Singh was India’s leading scorer in the loss with 19 points.
In the other Pool A game on Tuesday, Thailand put in a strong performance and were aggressive from the first ball in their match against Hong Kong, China. The determined Thais completed a clean sweep of their pool play after 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-19) demolition of the embattled rivals.
Japan secured the top spot in Pool B with a resounding 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-20) victory against Chinese Taipei.
The Japanese had all systems going and were spearheaded by the strong play of Karen Masajedi, Yuki Kashiwazaki and Sawa Maeda as they stayed unbeaten in three matches.
Also in Pool B, Kazakhstan beat Saudi Arabia 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) to wrap up their preliminary round campaign on a positive note.
Vladislav Mastikhin tallied 16 points for Kazakhstan, while Yegor Volkov added 10. Azzam Alsubaie led Saudi Arabia with 15 points.
In Pool C on Tuesday, China posted a stunning 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 15-13) victory over Iran in a high-octane encounter that decided the group winners.
The Philippines claimed their first win in the same pool with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-21) triumph over a battling Lebanon. Luke Anton Carl Macatangay was their leading scorer with 16 points, while Lance Danielle Babon added 10. Charbel Al Najour had 13 points to pace the Lebanese, which suffered their successive three losses of this stage.
In the other Pool D clash on Tuesday, Pakistan cruised to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-19) victory over Kuwait to maintain their winning streak heading into the Top Eight.
POOK RANKING AND RESULTS
POOL A
POOL B
POOL C
POOL D
MATCH SCHEDULE
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