Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, August 30, 2023 – Reigning champions Japan, China and hosts Thailand pulled off convincing straight-set wins against their respective opponents, as Korea’s shock 2-3 defeat at the hands of Vietnam highlighted Day 1 of the 22nd Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship here on Wednesday.
The 22nd edition of the continent’s biggest women’s volleyball competition simultaneously kicked off on Wednesday at Chartchai Hall and MCC Hall inside The Mall Korat Department Store. A strong field of 14 teams are strutting their stuff in this topflight championship to vie for top honor and accumulated points for FIVB World Ranking, with Japan back to defend their title and seek their treble quest.
At the 5,000-seater Chartchai Hall, the main competition venue for this eight-day championship, Japan, fielding Miyu Nakagawa and Miwako Osanai, the two players who joined the team which captured the Asian title at the previous title in 2019 in Korea (the 2021 edition in Philippines was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic), made a solid start after 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-22) win against Iran in Pool B.
Okumu Oba Fuyumi Hawi delivered 14 points from 12 attacks and two blocks for Japan, while Yuki Nishikawa added another 13 points for the winning side. Khalili Chermahini Fatemeh led Iran with 12 points including 10 attacks from 31 attempts.
“Iran is a good team with high potential players. We find it very hard to play them because we have to adjust our game quite often. We have never thought about their height and so, their blocking was great. We next play India. The Indians also have good defence like Japan. In our team, there are 2-3 players who competed in this year’s VNL,” Japan head coach Takayuki Kaneko commented after the match.
Iran head coach Rashidi Kiklahijani Fatemeh said, “My players are very young and most of them have no enough experience to fight the strong Japanese. However, today is over and we have to get ready for tomorrow’s game against the Indians. In my point of view, India changed many players from the team we had played in the AVC Challenge Cup. However, I think we should win.
“In fact, we did not have enough time to prepare our team for this championship. Today, we did not have our first setter because of her injury two days ago during the friendly match against Thailand, while our second setter is still young. I think our blocking, service and digging worked out well today. I hope we can win some…
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