Thailand and Korea will play in the 2022 bronze medal rematch
Jiangmen, China, July 8, 2024 – Two unbeaten teams China and Japan have paved their paths for a highly-anticipated final of the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium on Monday.
China, Japan, Thailand and Korea, all of which had achieved the Top Four at the previous edition two years ago in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, lived up to expectations to secure their semifinal berths in Jiangmen.
It will be the 13th final of the two Asian powerhouses to battle it out for the eventual crown. Out of 12 finals they had confronted in the final showdown, China captured seven titles and Japan claim the remaining five. However, since the championship inception in 1980 in Seoul, China had already won a total of 12 titles to their name, while Japan had seven.
On Monday, fired-up China, current U21 world champion and former 12-time Asian U20 winners, put it past the determined Korea in dramatic four sets in the semifinals after taking the first two sets with ease 25-6, 25-4, going down 20-25 in the third set to capture the fourth set 25-17, match and a final berth.
China were strong offensively with the likes of Shan Linqian and Wang Yindi, both of them competed in the gold medal-winning China team at the last year’s FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship in Mexico and Li Chenxuan and Chen Houyu, both of whom joined China at the last year’s FIVB Women’s U19 World Championship in Croatia/Hungary. Korea were also formidable in their offensive system, orchestrated by Li Jua, Jeon Dabin and Lee Jiyun.
China dominated Korea in all elements of skills. The China’s mighty attacks (39 to 29) and higher efficiency in blocking (19 to 2) and from the service line (12 to 3) proved instrumental for their victory. The winners also gave up fewer points in opponent errors (25 to 18) in the match.
Title-holders Japan also powered their way into the final of the prestigious championship in Jiangmen after managing a 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-20) shutout of Thailand in the other semifinal clash on Monday.
Japan maintained their remarkable unbeaten run in the nine-day championship, dropping only one set to Korea en route to the final, their 16th showdown. Out of their previous 15 finals, Japan captured 7 titles and picked up 8 silvers. Japan won the last two editions in 2018 in Bac Ninh, Vietnam and 2022 in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan (the 2020 edition was cancelled due to…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…