Recap of Girls’ U17 World Championship last competition day
China celebrate as inaugural U17 world champions
China triumphed as the first ever U17 volleyball world champions. In Saturday’s final of the inaugural FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship in Lima, they snatched the historic trophy by shutting out Asian archrivals Japan, thus completing a victorious run of seven wins in seven matches with only a set lost along the way. Italy also made the podium as bronze medallists.
- Watch FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship replays on VBTV
Captain Yang Shuming powers China to emphatic win of gold medal showdown
China’s opposite and captain Yang Shuming was on fire in Saturday’s gold medal showdown in front of nearly 5,700 fans at the Coliseo Eduardo Dibos in the Peruvian capital. She led her teammates to a convincing 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-18) victory over Japan to claim the crown of the first U17 champs in history. China outplayed their opponents in attack, in serving and especially in blocking with nine stuffs against just one. Yang herself produced a 24-point match high, including three aces and a kill block. Outside hitters Huang Yuexin and Sun Hongyun also reached the double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Opposite Hikari Kudo was Japan’s most prolific player with 21 points.
The FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship podium
“It was a tough match!” Yang Shuming told the FIVB. “We’ve watched the previous videos from Japan and we’ve analyzed them for a long time. I am very excited because it’s the first world championship!”
“We are very excited! We are very proud of our players. We decided to go game by game to achieve the main objective. We were always convinced that we could win. I hope these players can reach a higher level and make it to the women’s national team.” Yong Zhao, head coach of China
“I can’t say how hard the match was, but we did everything we could and I am happy to have made it this far. We won second place, but I am happy that almost the entire stadium cheered us on and that was a very good experience. I love volleyball, I want to keep playing and connect with everyone through volleyball,” said Japan’s libero and captain Kokoro Semba.
Italian blocking leads team to World Championship bronze
Italy once again relied heavily on their tremendous blocking effort to come back from a set down in the third place match against Chinese Taipei and celebrate a 3-1 (19-25,…
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