Day 7 Wrap-Up
Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, May 1, 2023 – Sport Center 1, the only team unbeaten in the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship, bounced back to pull of stunning 3-1 upset of Liaoning Donghua in the semifinals to set up the final clash with Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force at the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium on Tuesday, vying for their maiden title.
Sport Center 1 fielded the Vietnam national team players who used this topflight club championship as a tune-up tournament ahead of their participation in the next week’s 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia.
In the semifinals, with the Top 4 teams contesting Pool D, on Monday, Sport Center 1 made terrific comeback to stun Liaoning, the Chinese outfits which finished 7th at the Chinese Volleyball League current 2022/23 season, in thrilling four-setter 17-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-16.
The dramatic victory has earned Sport Center 1 their unprecedented spot in the final showdown. Moreover, Sport Center 1 are making history for Vietnam as it will be for the first time ever since the tournament inception in 1999 that the Vietnamese team are sure of making the podium in this championship.
In the Tuesday’s showdown, Sport Center 1, powered by prolific Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, who plays professional league with PFU Blue Cats in the Japanese V.League Division 1, will face off against Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force. The Thai side, led by hard-hitting Wipawee Srithong, the 193cm-tall Serbian Natasa Cikiriz and promising Sasipaporn Janthawisut, outplayed King Whale Taipei in hard-fought straight sets 25-19, 25-19, 25-23 in the other semifinal clash on Monday.
The exception victory carried the former consecutive two-time Thailand League winners to the showdown, which guaranteed them at least the silver medal, a step better than they made at the previous edition in Semey, Kazakhstan last year when they returned with well-earned third place and bronze medal.
As Sport Center 1 are seeking their maiden title in the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Championship for hosts Vietnam, Diamond Food are also ready to fight for the historic title for their own club and the 7th title overall for Thailand. Thailand has already claimed the title for six times including three back-to-back wins from Federbrau in 2009, Federbrau in 2010 and Chang in 2011. The aforementioned three teams had been represented by Thailand national team players.
The remaining three Asian Club titles of Thailand came form Bangkok Glass in 2015 and Supreme Chonburi for two in a row in 2017 and 2018.
On Tuesday, the final day of the 2023 edition in Vinh Phuc, as Sport Center 1 and Diamond Food will battle it out in the final showdown, King Whale Taipei will take on China’s Liaoning Donghua in the third-place playoff to fight for bronze medal.
Meanwhile, 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. All 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.
Altay, the 2021 champions which picked up silver in the previous edition on home soil in Semey last year, powered past Paykan, winners at the Iran Women’s Premier League current 2022/23 season, in convincing affair 25-15, 25-20, 25-18.
On Tuesday, the Kazakh side will go up against Hisamitsu, the 2002 and 2014 champions, in a tough match which will decide the teams finishing 5th and 6th places in the championship as both Altay and Hisamitsu have yet lost to their respective rivals in this ranking Pool E round for 5th-9th places.
Meanwhile, Hisamitsu Springs, fielding only 10 players in their Tuesday’s match against Khuvsgul Erchim, the first team ever from Mongolia in the history of Asian Women’s Club Championship, but still proved too strong for the less-experienced opponents to win the totally lopsided match 25-15, 25-7, 25-8.
The Japanese outfits sent only 11 players to this championship, but on Monday, Minami Nishimura, the lone libero in the team, had a fever and could not play in the match and the Japanese side replaced her with small-built opposite player Akari Shirasawa, 164cm tall, in the libero position.
As of Monday’s standings in Pool E, Hisamitsu Springs and Altay had the similar performance of 9 points apiece from 3 straight wins, but the former stayed in front with the better points ratio.
Paykan came in third place in the pool with 1 point from one win against two losses. Mongolia have already completed their campaign in the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Championship in Vinh Phuc and they had 3 points from one win against three losses to come in fourth position. Winless Hip Hing VC from Hong Kong, China are on the bottom 5th place with no points earned from three straight losses.
Paykan are due to take on Hip Hing VC on Tuesday, with Hisamitsu Springs going up against Altay VC.
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation