Tehran, Iran, August 20, 2022 – Steered by hard-attacking Lee Woojin, Korea rallied past China in epic tiebreaker 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13 to clinch semifinal berth in the 14th Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Championship at the Federation Hall on Saturday and ticket to 2023 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship.
Korea, the 1999 champions and silver medalists at the previous edition in 2018, mixed the offensive combination of Lee’s powerful attacks and solid blocks and spikes from talented Kim Gwanwoo to take the first set 25-21.
After that, the Chinese were fighting gallantly in all moments of the match trying to take advantage of the opponents’ mistakes. With the Koreans riddled with unforced mistakes, China made their mark and closed out the closely-contested second set 25-23.
In the third set, China lost their control, allowing Korea a strong fightback. China caught them in some crucial moments but Korea surged away to win the third set 25-22, again in a tough contest.
China regained their form and got their determination back on track to win the fourth set 25-22 to force a decider. However, Korea fared better to eventually win the thrilling decider 15-13.
Thanks to the well-fought five-set win, Korea became the first team to make the cut for the semifinals, where they are set to battle it out with the winners in the highly-anticipated clash between Japan and Kuwait.
Lee Woojin, who was instrumental in lifting the Korea’s win, said after the match, “I am so happy that we could stay concentrated and outperform the strong China today”.
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