Indonesia celebrate their 3-1 win against India on Saturday
Surabaya, Indonesia, July 27, 2024 – Title-hotshots Iran, Japan, Korea and hosts Indonesia emerged victorious on the action-packed Top 8 round on Saturday not only to stay unbeaten in the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship at Jawa Pos Arena and Gelora Pancasila here, but also advance to the do or die semifinals.
After the rest and recovery day on Friday, the topflight competition resumed with top eight teams testing their mettle in Pool E and Pool F and the remaining eight lower-ranked sides fighting it out in Pool G and Pool H to chase for better opportunities and better positions between 9th and 16th places of the championship, which serves as the Asia’s qualification tournament for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship.
In the Top 8 round on Saturday, former three-time champions Japan pulled off sensational straight-set 25-14, 25-13, 25-23 victory against Saudi Arabia in Pool E at Jawa Pos Arena.
Outside hitter Taiki Shirono chipped in 16 points from 13 kills and 3 aces for Japan, while opposite Hiroki Bito and another outside hitter, Shunta Ono, contributed 13 and 11 points respectively.
Rashad Abuelkhir led Saudi Arabia with 11 points, all in attack.
Another Pool E clash at the same venue saw in-form Indonesia continue their winning streak on home soil with dramatic 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 25-18) win against India, silver medallists at the previous edition two years ago in Riffa, Bahrain.
Opposite Dawuda Alaihi was on fire, producing a match-high 26 points from 19 kills, 3 blocks and 4 aces for hosts Indonesia, while middle blocker Darda Mulya and opposite Farchan Vachrezy added 10 points apiece. Opposite Nikhil bagged 17 points including 14 attacks from 30 attempts on the India’s loss.
However, with only top two teams from each pool booking their semifinal spots, Indonesia and Japan are uncatchable in Pool E and through to the semifinals, with the former claiming 6 points from two straight wins and the latter bagging 5 points from two wins in a row. India and Saudi Arabia had respective one point and no point following two straight losses to come in third and fourth places in Pool E.
On Sunday, the second day of the classification round for 1st-8th places, Japan will go up against Indonesia in the highly-anticipated duel of the two unbeaten teams to fight for the Pool E winners.
In Pool F, reigning and seven-time winners Iran, which captured…
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