The Vietnamese team ended the 22-year gold-medal drought in the history of the Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship
Final Day Wrap-Up
Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, May 2, 2023 – Home fans packing the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium erupted in celebration on Tuesday as Sport Center 1 underlined their supremacy over the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship to become the Vietnam’s first team in history to capture the maiden title and much to the delight of fans, with remarkable unbeaten record.
The hard-fought thriller saw the Vietnamese outfits bounce back mightily to pull off stunning upset 3-2 (21-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-10) against last year’s bronze medallists Diamond Food Fine Chef Air-Force in the highly-anticipated final showdown before a large crowd of around 3,000 fans inside the gymnasium.
Since the tournament inception in 1999, Vietnam started sending their team to strut their stuff in the annual competition in 2001 when they first hosted the championship in Ho Chi Minh City. However, from the very beginning of their appearance in the continent’s top-tier club championship, no team from Vietnam made the podium. The best performance of Vietnamese teams in the championship dated back to 2011 when Thong tin LienVietPostBank finished fourth after 0-3 loss to Altay in the third-place playoff.
The 193cm-tall Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, who currently plays with PFU Blue Cats in Japanese V.League Division 1, scored a match high 30 points, steered Sport Center 1 to the new chapter of Vietnam’s volleyball history. Moreover, the Vietnamese team will represent Asia for the first time ever to compete in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship due to be held in China later this year.
En route to winning their maiden title in Vinh Phuc, Sport Center 1 stunned several strong teams consisting of Iran’ Paykan 3-2, Japan’s Hisamitsu Springs 3-1 and King Whale Taipei 3-1 in their pool play in Pool A.
The Vietnamese team continued their remarkable run by outplaying China’s Liaoning Donghua 3-1 in the semifinals to pull off upset win against Diamond Food in the final showdown.
As for Diamond Food, to pick up silver in this championship was not that bad. It was a step better than what they had achieved at the previous edition last year in Semey, Kazakhstan when they returned with bronze medal.
In the third-place playoff earlier, China’s Liaoning Donghua VC, which finished 7th at the Chinese Volleyball League current 2022/23 season,…
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