Hosts Indonesia will challenge Japan in the bronze-medal match
Surabaya, Indonesia, July 29, 2024 – Reigning champions Iran and Korea set up final showdown of the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship following their stunning wins in the Monday’s semifinals, with the former overpowering hosts Indonesia and the latter putting an end to the Japan’s unbeaten run.
Iran, the only unbeaten team in this topflight championship, had already beaten Korea 3-2 in the classification round 1-8 in Pool F on July 28. In the semifinals, the Iranians had no issue in disposing of Indonesia in comfortable straight sets 25-21, 25-14, 25-16, while Korea survived a huge scare from Japan to beat the formidable rivals in hard-fought five-set thriller 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 21-25, 15-11.
Since the championship inception in 1980 in Seoul, Korea had met Iran in the final of the Asian Men’s U20 Championship for three times. Both teams first met in the 1998 final and Iran performed exceptionally to reign supreme. In 2004 in Qatar, Korea showcased their outstanding performance to beat Iran 3-1 in the final. However, they could not repeat the feat when both teams met again in the 2018 final in Riffa, Bahrain. There, the Koreans succumbed to straight-set loss to Iran in the showdown.
At the previous edition in Riffa two years ago, Iran demolished India 3-1 in the showdown to capture their seventh title, while Korea, which also won six Asian titles to their name, picked up bronze medal following straight-set win against Thailand in the third-place playoff.
On Monday, Japan, which had yet lost a match en route to the semifinal clash against Korea, relied on their offensive system orchestrated by outside hitter Shunta Ono and opposite Hiroki Bito. However, Korea were also strong offensively with the likes of Lee Woo-Jin, who won the Best Outside Spiker at the last year’s U19 World Championship in Argentina, and hard-attacking Yun Gyeong.
Korea, showing great resilience and consistency, took the first two sets 25-20, 25-19, but the Japanese bounced back to clinch the next two sets with the similar margins 25-21, 25-21, forcing the tie-breaker to determine the eventual winners.
Korea still came up with better teamwork and combinations to win the decider 15-11 and seal the deal 3-2.
Outside hitter Lee Woo-Jin and opposite Yun Gyeong were instrumental in lifting the Korea’s victory in this match, producing 22 points apiece. Opposite Hiroki Bito scored a match-high 28…
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