Almaty, Kazakhstan, September 24, 2017 – China and Kazakhstan secured their slots to the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship upon conclusion of the AVC Qualification Tournament in Baluan Sholak Sports Palace on Sunday.
Olympic champions China completed the single round-robin qualification tournament by sweeping all four matches, without dropping a single set. They capped off the competition with 3-0 against Chinese Taipei (25-18, 25-14, 25-10), before heading back to Beijing on Sunday evening.
Captain Zhu Ting validated her declaration at the start of tournament to play tough to claim a berth for the World Championship in 2018.
“It has been a long and difficult tournament, but we are happy to succeed with our goal of getting the ticket to Japan,” said Zhu.
Kazakhstan finished the competition in second place winning three out of four matches in the single round-robin qualification tournament. Their lone loss was dealt by China, their first match in the tournament. The hosts later took three consecutive wins but faced their toughest match against Chinese Taipei.
“We knew from the beginning that our main opponent was Chinese Taipei. They are a really good team and at times, it felt almost impossible to defeat them,” said Kazakhstan coach Vyacheslav Shapran in the press conference after the hosts defeated Chinese Taipei in four sets on Saturday.
The hosts confirmed their right to participate in the World Championship in 2018, after a 3-0 defeat (25-8, 25-19, 25-14) of debutants Fiji in the final day of competition.
“We are happy to win and we finally got this ticket after so many injuries and other things we needed to face. We got together and made it,” said Kazakhstan captain Radmila Beresneva.
China and Kazakhstan join Thailand and Korea as AVC entries to the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship to be held in various cities across Japan in 2018.
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