Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, July 8, 2016 – The SMM 18th Taichung Bank Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship is in high gear as all 16 teams will go head to head at the Kaohsiung Arena and Feng Shan Gym from July 9 to 17, vying for the two tickets to the 2017 FIVB Men’s U21 Volleyball Championship.
Hosts Chinese Taipei, the silver medalists in 1996, are set to repeat their glory by starting the journey against Saudi Arabia at 18:30 (local time) on Saturday right after the Opening Ceremony.
Affected by the typhoon Nepartak, China, Pakistan, Thailand and Qatar were not able to arrive as scheduled on July 7. However the championship will kick off as scheduled on July 9, except some amendments will be made to the match schedule depending on the arrival time of the four teams.
It is for the first time that Kaohsiung Arena stages the AVC volleyball event since it came to use in 2008 while Feng Shan Gym is more familiar with volleyball events as it has hosted the FIVB Volleyball Grand Prix for several times. Although the Control Committee members were very satisfied with the venue preparation after the inspection, local organizing committee did not lose their mind and double checked every aspect on Friday just in case under such a bad weather.
The 16 teams are drawn into four pools of four teams apiece, Chinese Taipei will compete in Pool A, together with Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Thailand. Pool B features Iran, Qatar, Turkmenistan and Hong Kong, China. Pool C consists of China, Japan, Pakistan and Iraq, with South Korea, Bahrain, Sri Lanka and Australia in Pool D.
The preliminary phase will be played in round-robin system at two courts simultaneously. The top two teams of each pool will move on to second round of Pool E and F while the less-ranked two teams to Pool G and H. The quarter-finals will take place according to teams’ ranking in Pool E and F. Winners of quarterfinals will play semi-finals while losing teams strive for the 5th-8th playoffs. The top two teams of the championship will represent AVC at the next year’s FIVB Men’s U21 Volleyball Championship.
It is the 18th edition of Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship, which was first found in 1980 in South Korea, and is currently held biennially since 1984 (not held in 1982). And it is also the first time for Chinese Taipei to host this AVC competition for young player Under-20.
Former winners include South Korea, Iran, Japan and China. Six-time winner—South Korea (1980, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994 and 2004) are the biggest winner in history and Iran follow with five titles in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2014 respectively while China and Japan took three each.
The Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship witnessed Chinese Taipei to earn the second place in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in 1996, the third and the fourth place in Teheran (Iran) in 1998 and 2006 respectively while the sixth place was the closeout of the last edition.
Starting the intensive training camp at Tainan Syuejia Junior High School Training Center from May 1, Chinese Taipei, as hosts, are aiming to stand at the podium finally and get a berth to the 2017 FIVB Men’s U21 Volleyball Championship.