Hosts Indonesia will challenge Japan in the bronze-medal match
Surabaya, Indonesia, July 29, 2024 – Reigning champions Iran and Korea set up final showdown of the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship following their stunning wins in the Monday’s semifinals, with the former overpowering hosts Indonesia and the latter putting an end to the Japan’s unbeaten run.
Iran, the only unbeaten team in this topflight championship, had already beaten Korea 3-2 in the classification round 1-8 in Pool F on July 28. In the semifinals, the Iranians had no issue in disposing of Indonesia in comfortable straight sets 25-21, 25-14, 25-16, while Korea survived a huge scare from Japan to beat the formidable rivals in hard-fought five-set thriller 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 21-25, 15-11.
Since the championship inception in 1980 in Seoul, Korea had met Iran in the final of the Asian Men’s U20 Championship for three times. Both teams first met in the 1998 final and Iran performed exceptionally to reign supreme. In 2004 in Qatar, Korea showcased their outstanding performance to beat Iran 3-1 in the final. However, they could not repeat the feat when both teams met again in the 2018 final in Riffa, Bahrain. There, the Koreans succumbed to straight-set loss to Iran in the showdown.
At the previous edition in Riffa two years ago, Iran demolished India 3-1 in the showdown to capture their seventh title, while Korea, which also won six Asian titles to their name, picked up bronze medal following straight-set win against Thailand in the third-place playoff.
On Monday, Japan, which had yet lost a match en route to the semifinal clash against Korea, relied on their offensive system orchestrated by outside hitter Shunta Ono and opposite Hiroki Bito. However, Korea were also strong offensively with the likes of Lee Woo-Jin, who won the Best Outside Spiker at the last year’s U19 World Championship in Argentina, and hard-attacking Yun Gyeong.
Korea, showing great resilience and consistency, took the first two sets 25-20, 25-19, but the Japanese bounced back to clinch the next two sets with the similar margins 25-21, 25-21, forcing the tie-breaker to determine the eventual winners.
Korea still came up with better teamwork and combinations to win the decider 15-11 and seal the deal 3-2.
Outside hitter Lee Woo-Jin and opposite Yun Gyeong were instrumental in lifting the Korea’s victory in this match, producing 22 points apiece. Opposite Hiroki Bito scored a match-high 28 points from 26 kills, one block and one ace and outside hitter Shunta Ono contributed 26 points including 25 kills on the Japan’s loss.
With 12 stuffs in blocks to Japan’s 9, the Koreans dominated the net – they also led in aces (five to one), but finished behind in kills (62 to 72) apart from benefitting from more opponent errors (28 to 18).
In the other semifinal encounter, Iran proved too strong for Indonesia to sweep the host side in three-setter 25-21, 25-14, 25-16.
Outside hitter Ariyan Mahmoudi Nejad chipped in 16 points from 15 kills and one block for Iran, while opposite Pouya Ariakhah and outside hitter Seyed Matin Hosseini Tolouti had productive shifts to add 14 and 13 points respectively.
Iran also limited the rivals’ offense to the point that no Indonesian player reached double digits in scoring against them. Middle blocker Darda Mulya, outside hitters Bagas and Krisna scored 6 points apiece for the host side.
As Iran will fight it out with Korea in the final showdown, Japan and Indonesia will face off in the third-place playoff to fight for bronze medal.
Meanwhile, in the 5th-8th playoff matches, India, silver medallists at the previous edition two years ago, beat former four-time winners China in closely-contested four sets 25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 25-22.
Outside hitter Soham Dinesh More delivered 19 points from 17 kills, one block and one ace for India, while middle blocker Gao Yuning was the match’s most productive player to score 21 points from 14 attacks, 6 blocks and one ace for China.
The other match saw Kazakhstan power past Saudi Arabia in straight sets 25-15, 25-17, 25-18 in 59 minutes.
Opposite Diyorbek Ikramov tallied 17 points from 15 kills and 2 blocks for Kazakhstan, while Rashad Abuelkhir led Saudi Arabia with 10 points including 7 attacks from 25 attempts.
On Tuesday, India will battle it out with Kazakhstan for the 5th place in the championship, while China face off against Saudi Arabia to fight for better opportunity and 7th position.
In the 9th-12th playoffs, Thailand brushed off Australia in straight sets 25-14, 25-15, 25-23 to next go up against Chinese Taipei and fight for the 9th position.
Chinese Taipei fought hard against Hong Kong, China in a tight contest on Monday which ended 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 in favor of Chinese Taipei. Hong Kong China and Australia will battle it out in the 11th-12th place playoff on Tuesday.
In the 13th-16th playoffs, Bangladesh proved a class above Qatar to pull off straight-set win 25-13, 25-18, 25-23. Bangladesh will next play Vietnam on Tuesday to vie for the 13th position.
The Vietnamese downed Kuwait 25-14, 25-16, 27-25 in another encounter on Monday, leaving the Kuwaitis to go for the 15th position in their last match against Qatar.
The championship serves as the Asia’s qualification tournament for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship. Top four teams from the Asian Men’s U20 Championship in Surabaya excluding Iran will qualify for the next year’s world meet. As current world champions, Iran have automatically secured their place in the aforementioned World Championship.
July 30 is the last day of the championship. The end of the final match will be followed shortly by the awards presentation and the closing ceremony.
POOL RANKING AND RESULTS
RANKING 1-4
RANKING 5-8
RANKING 9-12
RANKING 13-16
MATCH SCHEDULE
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