Bangkok, Thailand, June 20, 2024 – With the AVC Continental Cup Semifinals coming to an end on Tuesday, the focus now turns to the Finals, which are set to get underway from June 21 to 23 at the same competition venue at Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Center in Ningbo, Xiangshan, China.
The highly-anticipated AVC Continental Cup Finals, which serve as the last stop for Asian qualification to qualify one team (National Federation) apiece in each gender to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, feature eight elite teams apiece in the men’s and women’s events.
Teams (NFs) qualified for the men’s event comprised hosts China, defending champions Australia and winners from five zones consisting of Indonesia (Southeast Asia), Iran (Central Zone), Japan (Eastern Zone), New Zealand (Oceania) and Qatar (Western Zone) and Oman, the eventual winners from the Semifinals.
In the women’s event, the qualified teams feature hosts and defending champions China and winners from five zones featuring Japan (Eastern Zone), Kazakhstan (Central Zone), Lebanon (Western Zone), New Zealand (Oceania) and Thailand (Southeast Asia). Indonesia and Vanuatu, which finished top two teams from the women’s Semifinals a couple days ago, completely filed out the women’s list.
On Friday, the first day of the men’s knock-out phase, top seeds China, led by veterans Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin, silver medallists at the rescheduled Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, take on eighth seeds Oman, which dashed Thailand’s high hopes on advancing to the Finals they had been through before at the 2020 edition.
Fourth seeds Japan play fifth seeds Iran, second seeds Australia, having achieved their best-ever result on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour with a fourth place finish at the Challenge event in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2022 and who claimed gold at the 2023 Penghu Open in Chinese Taipei, fight it out with seventh seeds Qatar and third seeds New Zealand challenge sixth seeds Indonesia.
The women’s elimination round on the same day sees second seeds Japan battle it out with seventh seeds Indonesia, third seeds Thailand, strengthened by Taravadee naraphornrapat/worapeerachayakorn kongphopsarutawadee, gold medallists at the 2021 Asian Championship and silver medallists at the 2023 edition, face sixth seeds Kazakhstan, fourth seeds New Zealand take on fifth seeds Vanuatu and top seeds China battle it out with eighth seeds Lebanon.
To ensure that all is set for the top-tier competition,…
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