Taicang, China – Saturday’s championship match at the Taicang Gymnasium set the stage for a showdown between title holder China and Asian champion Thailand with a fired-up host retaining their invincible aura in Asia by beating Korea in a pulsating straight-sets at the second Asian Women’s Cup Volleyball Championship, while Korea stunned apan to take third place.
On the final day of the eight-day prestigious championship, more than 4,500 local enthusiasts crammed into the venue to support their host team.
In the final clash, China pulled off a convincing 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 victory over Thailand in a rematch of the 2009 Asian Women Senior Championship showdown, but this time China took revenge over their 1-3 loss to Thailand, stamping their authority on Asian Volleyball by not losing a single set en route to Saturday’s conclusion.
China started strongly, jumping to a 10-6 lead in the opening set and steadily extended it to 18-12. But Thailand then answered with a 5-0 run to pull within 17-18. Leading at 24-21, veteran Li Juan flied high from the right side of the net to smash a ball home, clinching the set 25-23
In the second set, the Chinese women erased an 11-7 deficit to tie at 12-12. The two sides traded leads before China pull away with five points in a rowfor an unshakable 24-19 lead.
In the third set, two Chinese wingers Wang Yimei and Li Juan continued to srike hard from the sides to lead China and overcame a 4-7 deficit to overtake the lead at 10-8. Thailand could not find the way to stop 190cm-high Wang as setter Wei Qiuyue and opposite Zhang Lei combined to stuff her for a 23-17 advantage. Another powerful kill of Li Juan pushed China to 24-19, and she came back again to snare the set for China with a solo block to take the set and also the match in 74 minutes.
In the bronze medal encounter between Korea and Japan, World No.21 Korea proved an impossible nut to crack for the smaller and young rivals as they could not beat the blocking by taller Koreans and also thanks to mighty attacking hits from the three towers – Kim Yeon Koung, Kim Se young and Yang Hyo-Jin .
The first set was close throughout before Yang Hyo-Jin smashed home for Korea’s lead at 24-21. Japan clawed one point but only saw Han Song-Yi hand another kill and gave Korea theam a 1-0 lead.
Japan were able to stay within a few points in the second set before Kin Se-Young pilled Korea away near the end. Korea held a 24-20 lead but Japan launched a 3-0 run to narrow the gap at 24-23. However, a high flying attack by star player Kim Yeon-Koung gave Korea a 25-23 victory in the second set.
Despite the stout challenge from Japan, Kim Yeon Koung and han Yoo-mi methodically took turns penetrating the rivals’ defense with their exceptional spikes to stretch the lead to 11-4 and from then on never looked back to win an effortless third set 25-17.
Earlier, in the fifth-place play-off, world No. 16 taller Kazakhstan with an average of 184cm, who finished fifth at 2009 Asian Women’s Championship, took two hours to beat world No.24 Chinese Taipei in five-sets. Hard-attacking Natalya Zhukova scored 22 points, including 14 points from spiking, 4 points from blocking and four aces, helped the Kaxzkhstans to beat the smaller-built opponents in the decider 22-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 17-15..
Vietnam finished seventh after beating Iran, the team they had also got the better of in the preliminaries. Hard-attacking Nguyen Thi Thu Hoa from Vietnam scored 13 points to help the Vietnamese to sent the smaller-built opponents packing in straight sets in a 67-minute tussle.
Results
Play-offs
7th-8th: Vietnam beat Iran 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-18)
5th-6th: Kazakhstan beat Chinese Taipei 3-2 (22-25, 25-23,16-25, 25-22, 17-15)
Bronze-medal match: Korea beat Japan 3-0 (25-22, 25-23 25-7)
Gold medal match: China beat Thailand 3-0 (25-23 ,25-21, 25-19)
Final rankings
1. China, 2. Thailand, 3. Korea, 4. Japan, 5. Kazakhstan, 6. Chinese Taipei, 7. Vietnam, 8. Iran
Individual awarding
Best Scorer: Kim Yeon Koung (Korea)
Best Attacker: Kim Yeon Koung (Korea)
Best Blocker: Yang Hyo-Jin (Korea)
Best Server: Chen Wan Ting (Chinese Taipei)
Best Setter: Tomkom Nootsara (Thailand)
Best Libero: Zhang Xian (China)
Most Valuable Player: Wang Yimei (China)
Ufficio stampa
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