Surabaya, Indonesia, July 22, 2017 – Powerhouses Japan, fresh from capturing the AVC Qualifier Pool B winners for their slot at the next year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria, will be back to defend their title at the 2017 Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship in Surabaya between July 24 and August 1.
A strong field of 16 teams confirmed their participation in the biennial top-tier tournament. Indonesia, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia are in Pool A, with the former two-time winners and world No.7 Iran, Chinese Taipei, Pakistan and Iraq in Pool B. Pool C comprises defending and 8-time champions Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, while Australia, the AVC Qualifier Pool B runners-up, China, bronze medallists at the previous Asian meet, Thailand and Hong Kong are in Pool D.
The pool round-robin preliminaries will start on Monday, with hosts Indonesia and Saudi Arabia playing the curtain-raisers, Chinese Taipei taking on Pakistan, Thailand challenging China and Iran pitted against Iraq.
Also testing their mettle on the opening day are Qatar against Kazakhstan, while Australia meet Hong Kong, Korea take on Vietnam and Japan face Sri Lanka.
Only top two teams from each pool will advance to the quarter-finals. Teams finishing third and fourth places from each pool will be relegated to the 9th-16th classification round.
In the previous edition in Tehran two years ago, Japan shattered Iran’s dreams of making it three in a row to beat the host side 3-1 in the showdown to claim their eighth Asian title.
Meanwhile, Dr Eom Han-Hoo, Chairman of the AVC Sports Events Council and the Control Committee, chaired the first joint meeting on Saturday to check the host nation’s preparation task ahead of the competition. The local organisers confirmed their readiness for hosting the top-flight event. The inspection to the competition and training venues were also be made by both parties.
The participating teams have already arrived in town and started training at the training and competition venues. The General Technical Meeting will be held on Sunday afternoon, while eight opening matches are scheduled for Monday.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/
AVC Twitter: click: https://twitter.com/avcvolley
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation