Vietnam plays China in Asian volleyball championship semifinals
Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 09:16 GMT+7
Vietnam is slated to face off against China in the semifinals of the ongoing 2023 Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship after conceding a 3-1 defeat to host Thailand in the last classification-round encounter on Monday.
Vietnam and Thailand, having secured their spots in the semifinals, played to determine the Pool E winners.
Thailand fielded a formidable line-up, while Vietnam sent in a young roster.
Both teams came out in full force to trade attacks from the beginning of the opening set.
The first set saw the host side take a narrow 12-9 lead and then 19-16 before Vietnam fought back hard to catch up with it at 22-22.
Surprisingly, Vietnam displayed superb form to take the hard-fought first set at 25-23.
|
|
| Vietnamese (in yellow) and Thai players compete during their Pool E match at the 2023 Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship in Thailand, September 4, 2023. Photo: AVC |
After conceding one set, Thailand came back in the second set and quickly established a narrow 5-4 lead before winning eight points in a row.
The home team then set an early pace of 14-5 and gained control to stretch it to 23-13, before closing out the one-sided set at 25-14.
There were no surprises in the third and fourth sets as Thailand maintained its dominance.
The 1-3 loss sent Vietnam, ranking 40th in the world, to the second position in Pool E.
It is set to face Pool F champion, China, placing fifth in the world, at 3:00 pm on Tuesday (Vietnam time).
Pool E winner Thailand, 14th in the world, is scheduled to compete against defending champion Japan, positioned eighth globally, at 6:00 pm on Tuesday.
|
|
| Vietnamese (in yellow) and Thai players compete during their Pool E match at the 2023 Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship in Thailand, September 4, 2023. Photo: AVC |
The 2023 Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship takes place in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand through September 6.
Fourteen participating teams competed in four groups before 12 teams advanced to the classification round.
The tournament’s top three teams will earn a spot in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.
In the event’s 20 previous editions, China has claimed the highest number of titles, totaling 13, while Japan has won five and Thailand has clinched two.
The 2021 edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam’s most notable achievement was a fifth-place finish in both 2015 and 2017.
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
