Day 3 Wrap Up
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, August 9, 2022 – Thailand, Iran, Japan and China topped their respective Pools A, B, C and D at the conclusion of the pool round-robin preliminaries in the 2022 AVC Cup for Men at the Nakhon Pathom Provincial Gymnasium on Tuesday, with the host side stunning fired-up Korea in epic tie-breaker.
Pool B features only Iran and Pakistan and with only top two teams advancing to the next round, both teams have already secured their berths. Iran on the previous day recovered from the first-set down to beat Pakistan in thrilling four sets.
Aside from Iran and Pakistan, the remaining six teams to make the cut for the next round are Thailand and Korea in Pool A, Japan and Australia in Pool C and China and Bahrain in Pool D.
Earlier, Hong Kong China, Chinese Taipei and India succumbed to two straight losses in their respective pools to be relegated to classification round for 9th-11th places. As a result, the Tuesday’s encounters turned out to be decisive matches due to determine the top and the second place of each pool.
In Pool A, Thailand, which brushed off Hong Kong, China in hard-fought straight sets, had a daunting task against Korea, current world No.33 and bronze medallists at the recent FIVB Challenger Cup in Seoul.
Shrugging off their rust in the first two sets which they went down 17-25, 23-25, Thailand engineered a fightback, with Napadet Bhinijdee and Amorntep Konhan penetrating the Korean defence into shreds to put the host side back on track for the 25-19, 25-23, 15-12 triumph in the remaining three sets.
Japan, though fielding their B team, remained the only squad in this topflight competition yet losing a set to their respective rivals. Fresh from beating India in straight sets, the Japanese repeated another feat on Tuesday when they saw off Australia, which gained experience and exposure with their participation in the VNL and Challenger Cup, in pulsating three-setter 27-25, 25-15, 25-14 in Pool C.
China, world No.19 which finished 13th at this year’s VNL, struggled hard to beat Bahrain in dramatic four sets 27-29, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22.
After three days of the pool round-robin preliminaries, hosts Thailand topped Pool A with 5 points from two consecutive wins, followed by Korea with 4 points and winless Hong Kong, China. Iran captured the top spot in Pool B with 3 points, while Pakistan had no point to finish second in the pool.
Unbeaten Japan finished on top of Pool C with 6 points, while Australia and India had 3 points and no point respectively.
Mighty China made a clean sweep in Pool D with 6 points, while Bahrain and Hong Kong, China respectively claimed 3 points and no point.
In the next round due to be held between August 11 and 12, the last eight teams will be split to compete in the round-robin Pool E and Pool F, with teams from Pools B and D competing in Pool F and teams from Pools A and C pitted in Pool E. Teams which have already met in the preliminaries will not play again, but results earned in the preliminaries should be taken into account.
Pool E features Thailand, Korea, Japan, Australia, with Iran, Bahrain, China and Pakistan in Pool F.
Wednesday is rest day. The eight-day tournament will resume in round-robin Pool E and Pool F clash on Thursday. Only top two teams from Pool E and Pool F will advance to the cross semifinals.
Meanwhile, teams relegated to 9th-11th playoffs will play at the second hall – Sports Complex of Rajamangla University of Technology Rattanakosin, while the last eight teams will contest the next round at the Nakhon Pathom Provincial Gymnasium until the final showdown on August 14.
MATCH RESULTS & STANDINGS
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
MATCH SCHEDULE
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