The Asian Boys’ U19 Championship is underway, with 11 teams vying for spots at the FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship that will take place from August 17-27.
The tournament consists of four pools of three teams:
Pool A – Myanmar, Australia and Hong Kong
Pool B – Iran, Korea, Bangledesh
Pool C – Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan
Pool D – China and Chinese Taipei
Pool D only consists of two teams due to a late withdrawal of Kazakhstan, which guarantees the two teams a place in the quarterfinals.
Among big matches the the Asian championships, the Korean team, in Pool B, was able to take down the perennial champions of Iran in a three set sweep 3-0, (25-19, 25-21, 25-21) for the team’s second win in pool play. In the match, Iran was error-filled with Korea’s Im Donghyeok posting a match-best 18 points with 17 of them being kills. Korea’s first win of the tournament came to Bangladesh in dominating style 3-0, (25-12, 25-13, 25-11). Donghyeok scored a match-best 19 points in the win, consisting of 17 kills and two aces. Iran had no trouble taking down Bangladesh 3-0, (25-11, 25-12, 25-13) for second place in pool play.
Korea finished the pool round-robin preliminaries with two straight set wins and are assured the top spot in Pool B with six points.
In Pool A, Myanmar, the hosts, were able to remain unbeaten after pool play. In their first match of the competition, Myanmar took down Hong Kong in a quick three set match 3-0, (25-15, 25-17, 25-15). Aung Zaw Heit led the pack with 18 points, 15 of which were kills. Myanmar took down Australia in a four set battle 3-1, (25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 25-22) in their final pool play match. Australia kept themselves alive but sent Hong Kong home with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-7, 25-21) dominating win.
The average age of the Myanmar players is 14.4 years, considerably lower than most of the teams competing at the event.
In Pool C, Thailand took the first match of pool play 3-0, (25-10, 25-15, 25-23) from Sri Lanka with Khomsan Phoonsang scoring a team-best 12 points. Japan was able to knock off Sri Lanka in straight sets 3-0, 25-14, 25-21, 25-17) with Shunichiro Sato posting a team-best 15 points in the win. Japan proved too tough for Thailand taking the 3-0, (25-21, 25-17, 25-18) straight set win with Kento Miyaura contributing 20 points.
Pool D’s only match of pool play was a four set battle between China and Chinese Taipei 3-1, (28-30, 25-23, 25-19, 25-18) with China surviving. Zhang Jingyin posted a team-best 18 points for China. With the win and Kazakhstan’s late withdrawal from the competition – China took the six points with the forfeit for two wins, while Chinese Taipei took the win and loss for three points.
The Quarterfinals of the competition will continue this Saturday with the following match ups:
- Korea vs. Chinese Taipei
- China vs. Iran
- Myanmar vs. Thailand
- Japan vs. Australia
There are four spots of the 20 available from the AVC up for grabs to the championships in August, with the top four finishers at this event getting a big.
Already Qualified
- Africa: Bahrain (hosts), Egypt and Tunisia
- South America: Argentina, Brazil and Chile
- NORCECA: Cuba, USA, Mexico and Puerto Rico
The remaining six spots of the competition will go to the top-six teams from the European U19 Championships beginning on April 22.
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