Manama, Bahrain, August 1, 2024 – Japan and Pakistan became the first two teams to secure their semi-final berths in the 15th Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Championship at the Isa Sport City Hall C here on Thursday.
The other two places will be decided on Friday following the completion of Pool E play in the tournament’s Elite Eight.
Defending and three-time champions Japan outplayed Korea, while Pakistan battled past Chinese Taipei. Both Japan and Pakistan were uncatchable with respective 6 and 5 points from the similar performances of 2-0 win/loss record to finish among top two in Pool F for sure. They will fight it out in a decisive match on Friday for the Pool F supremacy.
China ousted hosts Bahrain and Iran cruised past Thailand in Pool G and both sides inched closer to claiming their places in the last four.
Each of the semifinalists will also qualify for the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship, set to take place next year.
The last four will take place on Saturday along with the start of the final classification round. That will set the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on Sunday, when the final ranking will also be determined.
On Thursday, Japan punched their semis tickets after defeating Korea with a comeback 3-1 (28-30, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18) win in Pool F. The result earned the Japanese aggregate six points in this round – three of which they carried over from the preliminaries.
Karen Masajedi had a sensational performance with 31 points, while Rei Iwata added 18. Yuki and Kashiwazaki had 12. For the Koreans, Song Eunchan scored 19, while Lee Seungil chipped in 10 points in the loss.
Japan will battle it out with Pakistan on Friday, while Korea and Chinese Taipei, both of whom are out of further title contention and will compete in the 5th-8th classification on Saturday and Sunday, face off in the other group contest.
The Pakistanis overcame a mid-game collapse to defeat Chinese Taipei 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-18, 25-23). After taking the first set, the Pakistanis went ahead 24-16 in the second. But in a stunning turn of events, Chinese Taipei strung together the next 10 points, sealing their comeback and drawing level.
However, Chinese Taipei could not build on their momentum and Pakistan recovered right away. They took the third set in convincing fashion before doing enough in the fourth to seal the contest.
Muhammad Yahya put in a class performance with 29 points to spearhead the victors, while Muhtad Ali Shah added 15…
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