THAILAND JOIN JAPAN, KOREA AND CHINA IN QUARTER-FINALS OF ASIAN WOMEN’S U17 CHAMPIONSHIP – Asian Volleyball Confederation

May 2018
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THAILAND JOIN JAPAN, KOREA AND CHINA IN QUARTER-FINALS OF ASIAN WOMEN’S U17 CHAMPIONSHIP

Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, May 22, 2018 – Hosts Thailand produced an epic 3-2 comeback win over Chinese Taipei to join elite Pool A teams Japan, Korea and China in the quarter-finals of the 12th Asian Women’s U17 Volleyball Championship at the Nakhon Pathom Municipality Gymnasium on Tuesday.

Thailand, fresh from capturing the “Princess Cup” 20th South East Asian Women’s U17 Championship at the same competition venue, delighted home fans by overpowering Chinese Taipei with a come-from-behind 19-25 25-19 21-25 25-20 17-15 victory to capture the top spot in Pool B and a place in the quarter-finals.

Saowapa Soosuk scored a match-high 20 points including 18 kills from 32 attempts for Thailand, while Chanoknan Sabaengban contributed 17 points. Pan Hsuan-Jung charted 27 points including 22 attack hits from 50 attempts for Chinese Taipei, while Hsu Wan-Yun added 26 points.

“It was a good match as my girls learned a lot of things. I had told them before that mistakes can happen anytime while competing. In the first set, my players made many mistakes since the word “Chinese Taipei” gives them uncertainty if they can beat the rivals. That’s why they played with pressure and mistakes,” Thailand coach Chamnan Dokmai commented after the match.

“After that, we came up with improved tactics and played more confidently. In such a close match, win/loss depends upon how they can control emotions in any situation. In the fifth set, we played better, thanks to the crowd’s support and confidence raised. It’s possible we will meet again in the quarter-finals. I still believe that we can beat them again in that round as winning today has boosted my girls’ morale and gained confidence in them,” he added.

Meanwhile, fired-up Korea survived a sturdy challenge from China to stun the former four-time Asian champions in hard-fought four-setter 25-17 21-25 25-23 25-22 in their last preliminary Pool A match.

“We learned that all the Chinese players are very tall, so we concentrated on the game. Fortunately, my players trained pretty well as a full team before competing in this championship. We also learned that the tall Chinese will come up with blocking as strong points, we then tried to focus on our own game. We could come back in the fourth set because we fielded Park Eunseo into the court and she carried out good serves and that paid it off handsomely. In fact, we trained only 29 days for this championship,” Korea coach Seo Dongsun said in an interview through interpreter.

In Pool D, Kazakhstan sent India packing 3-0 (25-16 25-22 25-13) in their last preliminary match to emerge as the pool winners, while Australia defied against all odds to stun Iran in tie-breaker 22-25 20-25 25-19 25-21 15-9 to top Pool C.

At the end of the pool plays on Tuesday, all participating teams have been ranked respectively according to their performances. Reigning champions Japan, which had captured the Pool A top spot with two straight wins since Monday, are R1 (Ranked 1st), with Korea and Japan R2 and R3 respectively.

Thailand top Pool B and are R4 (Ranked 4th), followed by Chinese Taipei (R5) and Hong Kong (R6). Australia, Iran, New Zealand and Kazakhstan are R7, R8, R9 and R10 respectively, while India and Malaysia are R11 and R12.

On Wednesday, the top-four ranked teams (R1-R4) have a rest day, while the quarter-final ranking round will be held, with Chinese Taipei (R5) taking on New Zealand (R9), Hong Kong (R6) playing Kazakhstan (R10), Australia (R7) challenging India (R11) and Iran (R8) meeting Malaysia (R12).

The four winning teams will then go up against the top-four ranked teams in the knock-out quarter-finals on Thursday.

The championship serves as the Asian Women’s U17 qualifying tournament, which will see top four-ranked teams secure their berths for the next year’s FIVB Women’s U18 World Championship in Mexico.

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