Jiangmen, China, July 7, 2024 – Intense duels set the stage for the action-packed semifinals of the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium on Monday, with indomitable China challenging Korea and Thailand facing off against reigning champions Japan.
The topflight championship serves as the Asian qualification tournament, from which top four teams will qualify for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship. However, China have earlier qualified automatically as current world champions.
China
Korea
China had already beaten Thailand 3-0 and Japan pulled off 3-1 win against Korea in their round of 8 matches and they all had a rest day on Sunday. The semifinal encounters resume on Monday, with Thailand and Japan to meet in the first clash at 16.30pm local time and hosts China and Korea at 19.00pm.
Japan
Thailand
However, two matches will be held earlier on Monday in the classification round for 5th-8th places. India are set to take on Kazakhstan in the match to decide the 7th position of the championship, while Vietnam will clash with Chinese Taipei in the much-anticipated 5th-6th encounter.
On Sunday, the quartet had contested the 5th-8th place playoff matches which saw Chinese Taipei down Kazakhstan in intense straight sets and Vietnam demolish India in a lopsided battle.
Chinese Taipei
Resilient Chinese Taipei put it past Kazakhstan in hard-fought three-set thriller 25-22, 25-22, 25-23. The exceptional win has given Chinese Taipei a chance to go up against Vietnam in the Monday’s playoff encounter to determine the fifth and sixth places in this prestigious championship.
Chinese Taipei, powered by hard-attacking Hsu Fang-Min and the 180cm-tall Chang Yi-Chi, came up at full strength to get this crucial match against Kazakstan off to a flying start. The Kazakh side were also strong with the hefty Ayaulym Turdykhanova and outside hitter and skipper Sofiya Gorbacheva leading the team’s offense.
Kazakhstan
After the match, opposite Chang Yi-Chi and outside hitter Hsu Fang-Min scored 14 points apiece for Chinese Taipei, while Ayaulym Turdykhanova led Kazakhstan with 15 points including 12 attacks from 34 attempts.
Vietnam
Vietnam also proved their superiority over India to annihilate the lower-ranked opponents in an easy affair 25-15, 25-12, 25-18.
Middle blocker Le Nhu Anh chipped in 11 points from 10 attacks and one ace for Vietnam, while outside hitter Nguyen Lan Vy and opposite…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…