Qualification for 2018 World Championship Taking Shape In Asia

• Zonal Round Qualification
• New Zealand latest team to enter final stage of qualifying
• Thailand already qualified for final stage
• Winners gain bid to 2018 World Championship

The 2018 World Championships will be hosted in Italy and Bulgaria in the first time of the tournaments history. The best teams in the world will gather in men’s volleyballs version of the World Cup. Select teams from different regions of the world gain access the tournament through regional qualifying.

Currently, Asia is in their Zonal Round, consisting of five zones. The Central Asia zone (including Southern Asia and Iran), Eastern Asia zone, Oceania zone, Southeastern Asia zone and the Western Asia zone.

Photo Courtesy of Siamax

New Zealand and Thailand have advanced to the final stage of qualifying. Thailand finished 1st in the Southeastern Asia zone beating Vietnam and Myanmar. New Zealand advanced out of the Oceanic zone after defeating Tonga and Fiji.

Both teams will join 8 other nations in the final stage of qualification. The 10 total teams will split into Pool A and Pool B with the top 2 teams of each pool moving on to the 2018 World Championships.

Iran, Australia, Japan, China and South Korea all have automatically qualified for the final round as they are the top 5 highest ranked Asian teams out of the FIVB World Rankings.

The remaining Zonal Round matches are still not schedule but the pools are set, with the final round of qualifying to take place in 2017.

Central Asia

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L		W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	India	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX
2	Kazakhstan	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX
3	Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX
4	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX

Eastern Asia

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L		W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX
2	Macau	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX

Oceania

• Venue: Vodafone Arena, Suva, Fiji
• Dates: 27–29 October 2016
• All times are Fiji Standard Time (UTC+12:00).

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L		W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	New Zealand	2	0	6	6	1	6.000	177	149	1.188
2	Fiji	1	1	3	4	3	1.333	158	149	1.060
3	Tonga	0	2	0	0	6	0.000	116	153	0.758

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
27 Oct	19:30	New Zealand	3–0	Tonga	28–26	25–19	25–21			78–66
28 Oct	19:30	Fiji	3–0	Tonga	25–18	25–18	25–14			75–50
29 Oct	19:30	Fiji	1–3	New Zealand	24–26	25–23	14–25	20–25		83–99	Result

Southeastern Asia

• Venue: Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
• Dates: 7–9 October 2016
• All times are Indochina Time (UTC+07:00).

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L		W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Thailand	2	0	6	6	1	6.000	176	151	1.166
2	Vietnam	1	1	3	4	3	1.333	162	150	1.080
3	Myanmar	0	2	0	0	6	0.000	115	152	0.757

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
7 Oct	18:00	Thailand	3–0	Myanmar	27–25	25–17	25–22			77–64	Result
8 Oct	18:00	Myanmar	0–3	Vietnam	20–25	13–25	18–25			51–75	Result
9 Oct	18:00	Thailand	3–1	Vietnam	24–26	25–18	25–23	25–20		99–87	Result

Western Asia

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L		W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX
2	United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	MAX	0	0	MAX