China attack hosts Bahrain to decide Pool A winners on Tuesday
Isa Town, Bahrain, June 4, 2024 – On the day when Thailand’s title defence mission turned impossible, Asian powerhouses China, Pakistan, Korea and Australia topped their respective pools and made it to the highly-anticipated quarterfinals of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Men at the Isa Town Sports City Hall C here.
On Tuesday, the last day of the pool round-robin preliminaries, Kazakhstan upset Thailand 3-2 (25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-13) in Pool B, while Qatar demolished Indonesia 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-17) in Pool C, Vietnam overpowered Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-14) in Pool D and China outplayed hosts Bahrain 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-16) in Pool A.
Three unbeaten teams Pakistan, Korea and Australia topped Pools B, C and D respectively since completion of their pool play on Monday. Bahrain and China had already secured their quarterfinal berths following their convincing wins against the Philippines on the first two days, but battled it out on Tuesday to determine the Pool A winners and China emerged triumphant.
Also making the cut for the quarterfinals were teams finishing second in those four pools featuring hosts Bahrain (Pool A), Kazakhstan (Pool B), Qatar (Pool C) and Vietnam (Pool D).
At the same time, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei lost two matches in a row to finish third places in Pool A, B, C and D respectively, resulting in their relegation to Classification Round for 9th-12 places.
Contesting Pool B, world No. 66 Thailand, reigning champions and 7th place at the 2023 FIVB Challenger Cup in Doha, Qatar, made a dismal start to their title defence campaign as they succumbed to straight-set loss to world No.49 Pakistan, which captured the CAVA Nations League to their name.
The Monday’s letdown gave Thailand a must-win situation in their second match against Kazakhstan, the team which had beaten them in straight sets at the rescheduled Hangzhou Asian Games in China last year. Still, Thailand suffered another setback on Tuesday when they went down to the tall and towering Kazakhs in epic tie-breaker.
Thailand fielded the same lineup which lost in straight sets to Pakistan consisting of Kissada Nilsawai, Amornthep Khonhan, Jakkrit Thanomnoi, Anuchit Pakdeekaew, Anurak Phanram, setter Boonyarit Wongtorn and libero Tanapat Charoensuk. Kazakhstan were also strong with the likes of highly-experienced Vitaliy Vorivodin, Aibat Netalin, Petr…
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