Manila, Philippines, May 5, 2015 – Japan and China took pole position in their respective pools in the classification phase for 1st to 8th place in the Rebisco U23 Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship powered by PLDT Home and Smart Live More at the PSC Philsports Arena on Tuesday.
In Pool E, Japan outclassed Iran in straight sets (25-13, 25-7, 25-15). Japanese hitters Misaki Yamauchi and Arisa Inoue led the charge for Japan with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Japan likewise had superb execution of their defence against Iran with seven blocks.
Chinese Taipei recovered after a sluggish start to defeat hosts Philippines 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-12, 25-19). The Chinese Taipei receivers were pressured and had to refocus their strategy on their rotation to overcome the feisty Filipino serve.
“The Philippines served very well today,” Chinese Taipei coach Lin Ming-Hui said. “Our receivers were pressured by their service and we could not pass the ball very well. So we had to adjust on our rotation and on our block.”
Meanwhile, China ruled Thailand 3-0 (25-13, 25-10, 25-12) to take their second victory in Pool F. Liu Yanhan had another solid scoring performance for China with 14 points, while main hitter Ajcharaporn Kongyot was quite silent, only producing four points for the Thai squad.
Lee Soyoung led Korea with 19 points to hand India a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-11) defeat to get a 1-1 win-loss record in Pool F. Korea took advantage of the errors committed by India in the third set to finish the match.
Macau had the momentum from their fourth set victory but got stuck in the final stretch of the deciding set, allowing Uzbekistan to pull off a 3-2 (19-25, 25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11) triumph and finally break into the win column in the second semifinal match for 9th to 12th place.
Nazokat Toshpulatova and Holidahon Holmuradova charted 15 points apiece for Uzbekistan, while Leong On Ieng scored the most points on a losing effort for Macau with 25 markers.
Wednesday will be the rest day. The competition will resume on Thursday in the knock-out quarter-finals, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals and the losers relegated to the 5th-8th playoffs.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
9th-12th Playoff: Uzbekistan b Macau 3-2 (19-25 25-16 25-23 23-25 15-11)
1st-8th Playoff: Pool E: Chinese Taipei b Philippines 3-1 (21-25 25-18 25-12 25-19
1st-8th Playoff: Pool E: Japan b Iran 3-0 (25-13 25-7 25-15)
1st-8th Playoff: Pool F: Korea b India 3-0 (25-18 25-17 25-11)
1st-8th Playoff: Pool F: China b Thailand 3-0 (25-13 25-10 25-12)
THURSDAY’S MATCH SCHEDULE (all local times)
10.00am: 11th-12th Playoff: Maldives v Macau
12.00pm: Quarter-finals: Japan v India
14.00pm: Quarter-finals: Chinese Taipei v Korea
16.15pm: Quarter-finals: China v Philippines
19.00pm: Quarter-finals; Thailand v Iran
Source: asianvolleyball.net
