Jiangmen, China, July 3, 2024 – China, Japan, Thailand and Korea topped their pools without dropping a set at the conclusion of the pool round-robin preliminaries on Wednesday, as teams qualified for round of last 8 had been confirmed for the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium.
Reigning champions Japan and Korea had already completed their pool play on Tuesday to become the first two teams to qualify for the last 8 stage, while the remaining spots had been unveiled on Wednesday for China, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and India.
On Wednesday, the last day of the pool play, fired-up China, spearheaded by opposite and skipper Wang Yindi and middle blocker Shan Linqian, both of them played in the gold-winning China team at the last year’s FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship in Mexico, stormed past Australia in comfortable straight sets 25-13, 25-15, 25-13 in Pool A.
Wang Yindi delivered a match-high 16 points from 13 kills, one block and two aces for China, while outside hitter Guo Xiangling and fellow outside hitter Dong Yuhan contributed 9 and 7 points respectively. Ella Schubort scored 9 points, all in attack, on the Australia’s loss.
Earlier in Pool B, India bounced back from losing the first two sets to beat Hong Kong, China in well-fought five sets 16-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16, 15-7 to finish second in the Pool and join Japan in the round of last 8.
Opposite Arasu Ananthi scored a match-high 24 points from 22 kills and 2 aces, while outside hitter and skipper Kavita and Kaenwar Raksha Vinod contributed 21 and 11 points respectively. Tang Sum Yuen led Hong Kong, China with 19 points including 17 kills from 50 attempts.
In Pool C, Thailand, bronze medallists at the previous edition, advanced to round of last 8 following consecutive two wins including the convincing straight-set victory 25-14, 25-22, 25-17 against Iran on Wednesday.
Outside hitter Warisara Seetaloed chipped in 19 points from 17 kills and 2 aces for Thailand, while Nakarinporn Budda and Thipsuda Bualai contributed 9 and 8 points respectively. Shaghayegh Hassankhani led Iran with 13 points, all in attack.
Chinese Taipei downed New Zealand in straight sets 25-15, 25-15, 26-24 in Pool D to join unbeaten Korea in the round of last 8.
Hsu Fang-Min was the most productive player in this match with 18 points from 15 kills, 2 blocks and one ace for Chinese Taipei, while Chang Yi-Chi and Lin Liang-Tai added 9…
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