Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, May 2, 2023 – Paykan, champions at the Iran Women’s Premier League current 2022/23 season, smashed Hip Hing VC’s sweet dream of winning their first and last match in the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship after powering past the spirited team from Hong Kong, China in straight sets 25-18, 25-21, 25-19 to end their campaign in 7th position.
Both teams competed in the classification round for 5th-9th places, which saw Japan’s Hisamitsu Springs, Altay VC from Kazakhstan, Iran’s Paykan, Hip Hing VC from Hong Kong, China and Khuvsgul Erchim from Mongolia contest Pool E. These five teams are set to compete in a pool round-robin format again, while teams from the same Pool A and Pool B which have already met in their preliminaries need not play again, but the results from the preliminaries earlier will be counted for 5th-9th rankings of each participating team in Pool E.
Playing their last match against winless Hip Hing VC, Paykan remained in the similar lineup which went down to much stronger Altay, the 2021 champions from Kazakhstan. They included Fatemeh Amini, Mona Ashofteh, Mahsa Kadkhoda and Pouran Zare, while Hip Hing were spearheaded by Chim Wing Lam and Pang Wing Lam.
In the opening set, Paykan utilized their powerful attacks from Mona Ashofteh and Fatemeh Manzouri to steer the team’s 25-18 win.
Hip Hing put their acts together, attempting to make a comeback in the second set. Their intention almost paid its dividends when Chim, Pang and Tse Lai Lam fought back against the much taller rivals from Iran. Hip Hing managed to take the lead with a 3-point clear at 12-9. Still, Paykan refrained from making unforced mistakes and hit back to level it at 16-16 and went on to win the close-looking match 25-21.
Holding a 2-0 advantage, Paykan found their touch in the third set to capture the lead 6-2 and extend it to 21-16. Hip Hing still played well to win three points in succession for the reduced gap 21-19. However, the Hip Hing’s determination was in vain shortly when Paykan unleashed good attacks to score four points in a row to win the set and match.
Following the win, Paykan had combined 6 points from two wins against two losses to eventually finish 7th place in this championship, while Hip Hing did not win a match in the eight-day championship to come in bottom 9th position with no points earned.
Mongolia’s Khuvsgul Erchim, which had 3 points from one win against three losses, returned home with the 8th place.
“My players are still young and can’t play well in this championship. I think we need to try more, but to be successful, we have to gain some experiences in more competitions. This championship is a high-level event because a lot of strong teams participated. I think after this we will learn from this championship and improve our game in our next competitions.
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