This year's ASIAN Men's U23 Volleyball Championship will be the inaugural edition of the tournament that will run today until May 20 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. This also serves as an Asian qualifier to the U23 World Championship in Dubai. Only the Top 2 teams will qualify to the world stage. Initially, there were 19 participating teams but has been reduced to 16 after the withdrawals of Malaysia, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
In Pool A, the hosts will tackle Maldives while Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand battles Saudi Arabia.
Vietnam and Chinese Taipei will also see action tomorrow. They are bracketed together with China and Australia in Pool C.
Considered as the 'group of death', Pool D will also see action today as perennial title contenders Japan faces another Southeast Asian powerhouse Indonesia. While South Korea faces Kazakhstan.
Philippines will start their campaign tomorrow against Qatar at 3PM (PH standard time). They will also face India on May 14 and Iran on the 16th.
The U23 team will be spearheaded by UAAP Champion coach Oliver Almadro. His players in ADMU that has won the recent UAAP Championship will also see action in the tournament. This includes 2-time UAAP MVP Marck Espejo, 2-time UAAP Best Setter Ish Polvorosa and formidable middle blockers Rex Intal and Bagwis member Peter Torres. Veteran player and former UAAP MVP AJ Pareja shall also lead this very young squad as Team Manager.
Only the Top 2 teams per pool will advance to the quarterfinals, while the last two teams of each pool will settle with 9th-16th places.
