Day 2 Wrap Up
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, August 8, 2022 – China, Korea, Iran and Australia sealed their first wins in the 2022 AVC Cup for Men at the Nakhon Pathom Provincial Gymnasium here on Monday, while the other three teams including Chinese Taipei succumbed to two straight losses to be relegated to classification round for 9th-11th places.
Hong Kong China, India and Chinese Taipei had already suffered their first loss at the hands of Thailand, Japan and Bahrain respectively and they were all playing with must-win matches on Monday to keep their high hopes of advancing to the next round alive.
However, it seemed that the going gets tough for the three teams when they had to go up against much stronger rivals on Day 2 of the topflight eight-day tournament. Things turned sour for all of them when they gave their best, but sill went down to their respective oppositions. Following two losses in a row, Hong Kong China, India and Chinese Taipei missed the round of the last eight teams.
Hong Kong, China on Monday failed to make their mark in Pool A and went down in a totally one-sided battle to fired-up Korea, third place at the recent FIVB Challenger Cup on home soil. Fielding a formidable lineup led by talented Heo Subong, who weighed in a huge 33 points in their clash against Australia in the Challenger Cup, Korea were working as a well-oiled machine to bag an effortless first set 25-11.
Coach Im Do Hun replaced his best players with substitutions in the following two sets and their performance still lived up to all expectations. Korea went on their superb form to wrap up 25-13 and 25-16 in the second and third sets respectively.
“Actually, my team trained hard in preparation for the Challenger Cup at home. However, after we learned that we missed it, we then changed our goal – we will try to win the AVC Cup for Men here,” said the Korea head coach.
Earlier in Pool C, India, fielding the U20 squad, found Australia too strong. Taking the height and experience advantage, the Volleyroos, propelled by instrumental captain Beau Graham, who stands 202cm tall, the 206cm Thomas Heptinstall and the 206cm Matthew Aubrey, annihilated the young Indians in comfortable straight sets 25-17, 25-20, 25-12.
The thrilling Pool D clash between China and Chinese Taipei saw the former struggle to beat the latter 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19 in the bronze-medal 2021 Asian Championship rematch.
Chinese Taipei head coach Moro Branislav from Serbia said, “China...
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