Surabaya, Indonesia, July 24, 2024 – Hosts Indonesia, title-hotshots Iran, Japan, India, Korea and Kazakhstan earned back-to-back wins in their pools to secure places in round of last 8 in the 22nd Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship at Jawa Pos Arena and Gelora Pancasila here on Wednesday.
As six teams have already booked their berths in round of last 8 or the Elite Eight, Hong Kong China will face off against Saudi Arabia and China will battle it out with Chinese Taipei on Thursday to fight for the remaining two slots up for grabs.
At Jawa Pos Arena on Wednesday, Indonesia, fresh from 3-0 demolition of Hong Kong, China the previous day, made it two in a row in Pool A following their convincing 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-19) victory against Saudi Arabia.
With two wins on the trot, the host side secured their berths in round of last 8 teams. The Indonesians will next take on Australia in their last Pool A match on Thursday.
Opposite Dawuda Alaihi chipped in 11 points from 9 kills and 2 blocks for Indonesia, while fellow opposite Farchan Vachrezy and outside hitter Krisna kept good company to add 10 and 9 points respectively. No Saudi Arabian player reached double digits in scoring, with Ali Al Jaber and Rasheed Al Sahli delivering 9 points apiece on the team’s loss.
In another Pool A match on Wednesday, Australia succumbed to two straight losses to be relegated to classification round for 9th-16th places. The Aussies put up a brave fight against Hong Kong, China, but still found the opponents too hot to handle and went down in closely-contested three-setter 23-25, 23-25, 24-26.
Opposite Lam Ho Wong scored a match-high 24 points from 22 kills, one block and one ace to steer Hong Kong, China to the fantastic 3-0 win, while middle blocker Mitchell Croft led Australia with 11 points from 10 kills and one block.
On Thursday, Hong Kong, China and Saudi Arabia will have to come up at full strength to topple each other in a must-win encounter. The winners will make the cut for round of the last 8 teams, with the losers relegated to classification round of the other eight lower-ranked sides.
In Pool B, China, which went down in hotly-contested straight sets to defending champions Iran in their opening match on Tuesday, regained the lost pride as the former four-time champions managed a 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-14) shutout of Qatar.
Middle blocker Gao Yuning and outside hitter Zhang Zhiqiang scored 11 points apiece for the China’s victory, while…
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