Japan celebrate their victory against hosts Thailand
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, June 22, 2024 – Defending champions Japan and China powered past hosts Thailand and Chinese Taipei in pulsating straight sets in the semifinals to set up final clash of Titans in the 15th Asian Women’s U18 Volleyball Championship at the Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium on Saturday.
Japan, China, Thailand and Chinese Taipei have earlier secured their places in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship following their outstanding performances in the pool round-robin preliminaries of the Asian Women’s U18 Championship, from which the quartet had qualified for the semifinals. The remaining lower-ranked sides were relegated to the Classification Round for 9th-13th places.
In the Saturday’s semifinals, China powered their way past the fighting Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) and Japan pulled off fantastic 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 25-16) win against hosts Thailand.
The Classification Round for 5th-8th places saw Iran outplay Kazakhstan in dramatic four sets 25-13, 23-25, 25-16, 25-13, while Korea overwhelmed Uzbekistan 3-0 (25-7, 25-7, 25-12).
In the Classification Round for 9th-13th places at Ratchaburi Gymnasium in Ratchaburi Province, Hong Kong, China took 11th place following their 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-20) win against India in the 11th-12th place playoff match, while Australia defeated Indonesia 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-20) in the 9th-10th playoff to claim 9th position. Earlier, Macao, China did not win a match to finish on bottom 13th place in the eight-day championship.
On Saturday, fired-up China, former four-time champions and the only team which have yet lost a single set to their respective rivals, remained solid in their formidable lineup led by outside hitter Zhai Yurui, opposite Yang Shuming and middle blocker Wang Aoqian in their semifinal clash against Chinese Taipei.
With Yang Shuming on fire with powerful attacks and Wang Aoqian producing efficient blocks, China dominated the first two sets. However, Chinese Taipei fought back with outside hitter Chen Yi and Wu Wen-Xuan, both of them standing similar 170cm tall, overcoming the taller blockers with their attacks. Still, their attempts did not pay their dividends when China, having height average of 185cm against the rivals’ 168cm, continued to dominate on the court and pushed forward to winning 25-21, 25-22.
Chinese Taipei pulled their game together in the third set, but the unforced mistakes…
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