Surabaya, Indonesia, July 24, 2024 – Hosts Indonesia, title-hotshots Iran, Japan, India, Korea and Kazakhstan earned back-to-back wins in their pools to secure places in round of last 8 in the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship at Jawa Pos Arena and Gelora Pancasila here on Wednesday.
As six teams have already booked their berths in round of last 8 or the Elite Eight, Hong Kong China will face off against Saudi Arabia and China will battle it out with Chinese Taipei on Thursday to fight for the remaining two slots up for grabs.
At Jawa Pos Arena on Wednesday, Indonesia, fresh from 3-0 demolition of Hong Kong, China the previous day, made it two in a row in Pool A following their convincing 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-19) victory against Saudi Arabia.
With two wins on the trot, the host side secured their berths in round of last 8 teams. The Indonesians will next take on Australia in their last Pool A match on Thursday.
Opposite Dawuda Alaihi chipped in 11 points from 9 kills and 2 blocks for Indonesia, while fellow opposite Farchan Vachrezy and outside hitter Krisna kept good company to add 10 and 9 points respectively. No Saudi Arabian player reached double digits in scoring, with Ali Al Jaber and Rasheed Al Sahli delivering 9 points apiece on the team’s loss.
In another Pool A match on Wednesday, Australia succumbed to two straight losses to be relegated to classification round for 9th-16th places. The Aussies put up a brave fight against Hong Kong, China, but still found the opponents too hot to handle and went down in closely-contested three-setter 23-25, 23-25, 24-26.
Opposite Lam Ho Wong scored a match-high 24 points from 22 kills, one block and one ace to steer Hong Kong, China to the fantastic 3-0 win, while middle blocker Mitchell Croft led Australia with 11 points from 10 kills and one block.
On Thursday, Hong Kong, China and Saudi Arabia will have to come up at full strength to topple each other in a must-win encounter. The winners will make the cut for round of the last 8 teams, with the losers relegated to classification round of the other eight lower-ranked sides.
In Pool B, China, which went down in hotly-contested straight sets to defending champions Iran in their opening match on Tuesday, regained the lost pride as the former four-time champions managed a 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-14) shutout of Qatar.
Middle blocker Gao Yuning and outside hitter Zhang Zhiqiang scored 11 points apiece for the China’s victory, while outside hitter Mahdi Salah led Qatar with 6 points.
Another Pool B clash saw defending and seven-time champions Iran, beating China 3-0 on Tuesday, power past Chinese Taipei in comfortable straight sets 25-13, 25-12, 25-19 for two in succession.
Outside hitter Seyed Matin Hosseini Tolouti delivered 14 points from 12 kills, one block and one ace for Iran, while opposite Pouya Ariakhah and middle blocker Armin Ghelichniazi, who captured the Best Middle Blocker award at the last year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s U19 World Championship in Argentina, where Iran picked up silver medal, contributed 10 and 9 points respectively. Outside hitter Jheng Wei-Jhih scored 10 points, all in attack, on the Chinese Taipei’s loss.
The two successive wins without losing a set made Iran one of the strongest teams to be reckoned with in the one-week championship. Iran also secured a spot in the round of last 8 teams, while winless Qatar could not make it that far and have to be relegated to classification round of 9th-16th places despite the fact that they still have to next go up against Iran in their remaining match on Thursday.
Holding the similar one-one win/loss record, China and Chinese Taipei will play a must-win match on Thursday to determine the second team to join Iran in the round of last 8.
At Gelora Pancasila, the second competition hall, on Wednesday, former three-time winners Japan swept Bangladesh in straight sets 25-7, 25-22, 25-15 for two in a row in Pool C.
Outside hitter Shunta Ono became the most productive player in this match, claiming 19 points from 14 kills, one block and 4 aces for Japan, while outside hitter Md Titash led Bangladesh with 7 points including 6 attacks from 18 attempts.
Japan dominated in all elements consisting of kills (38 to 21), blocks (6 to 2) and aces (8 to 3) apart from benefitting from more opponent errors (23 to 18).
In another Pool C clash, India, silver medallists at the previous edition in Riffa, Bahrain two years ago, claimed their second win on Wednesday after outplaying Kuwait in easy straight sets 25-14, 25-12, 25-18.
Skipper and outside hitter Dhruvil Nayanbhai Patel was instrumental in lifting the India’s 3-0 victory to score 15 points from 13 kills and 2 aces for the team, while outside hitter Ahmad Almutairi led Kuwait with 10 points from 8 kills and 2 blocks.
With two wins in succession, both Japan and India advanced to round of last 8 teams. Their clash with each other on Thursday will determine the Pool C winners. Bangladesh and Kuwait failed to make their mark and did not make it to the last 8 phase, but will fight it out on Thursday for a better position in Pool C.
In Pool D, Thailand, going down 2-3 to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, suffered the second loss at the hands of Korea in the rematch of the 2022 third place playoff. Against the formidable Koreans, former six-time champions, Thailand took the close first set 25-22, but lost the remaining three sets 22-25, 23-25, 22-25.
Opposite Yun Gyeong guided Korea to victory with 22 points from 19 kills, one block and 2 aces, with skipper and outside hitter Yun Seojin and another outside hitter, Yoon Hajun, contributing 19 and 15 points respectively. Christopher Arli Upakam scored a match-high 26 points on the Thailand’s loss.
Another Pool D clash saw Kazakhstan claim two wins in a row following their dramatic 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22) rout of Vietnam.
Opposite Klim Ryukhov chipped in 18 points from 16 kills and 2 blocks for Kazakhstan, while opposite Trinh Ngoc Dat led Vietnam with 18 points including 13 attacks from 29 attempts.
Korea and Kazakhstan will battle it out on Thursday to vie for the Pool D winners, but both sides secured their slots in the round of last 8 teams. Thailand and Vietnam, both of them suffered two straight losses, were relegated to classification round for 9th-16th places, but will compete against each other to vie for a better position in Pool D.
The pool round-robin preliminaries continue on Thursday, the last day of the pool play, while Friday is the rest day. The championship serves as the Asia’s qualification tournament to qualify four teams in Surabaya for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship. Current world champions Iran have already qualified, resulting in five teams in Surabaya to join the fray in the next year’s U21 World Championship.
POOL RANKING AND RESULTS
POOL A
POOL B
POOL C
POOL D
MATCH SCHEDULE
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