Asian Games volleyball recap: China and Japan stay undefeated, Qatar beats Myanmar
The Asian Games’ men’s volleyball preliminary round ended on Wednesday with six games. Of 18 competing teams, 16 advanced to the placement round. The women’s preliminary round is scheduled to begin on
Thursday.
China vs Thailand Group A
China beat Thailand 3-1 (25-19 21-25 25-22 27-25) to improve to 3-0 and take first place in Group A. They’ll face Saudi Arabia on Friday and Iran on Saturday in the 1-8 placement round. Thailand finished
in second place in Group A with a 2-1 record, and will face Iran on Friday and Saudi Arabia on Saturday in the 1-8 placement round.
Leading the way for China was Ping Chen with 19 points. Kitsada Somkane led Thailand with 18 points.
The match was close with China beating Thailand 14-9 in kill blocks, and 6-2 in aces. The teams were very close in their spiking efficiency. China had a slightly better percentage of 35.51 to Thailand’s
33.02.
Qatar vs Myanmar Group D
Qatar won the first of two Group D matches on Wednesday’s schedule 3-0 (25-15 25-18 25-18) over Myanmar. Qatar took second place in the Group with a 3-1 record. They’ll play South Korea on Friday and India
on Saturday in the 1-8 placement round.
Myanmar finished in fourth place in the Group, and will play Kazakhstan on Friday and Viet Nam on Saturday in the 9-16 placement round.
Ibrahim M. Ibrahim led Qatar with 18 points, and Kyaw Shwe let Myanmar with 11 points.
Qatar didn’t give Myanmar much of a chance in this match. They took the first set by 10 and the next two by seven.
Japan vs Hong Kong Group D
Japan ended the preliminary round 4-0 without losing a set after beating Hong Kong 3-0 (25-11 25-16 25-12). Japan took first place in the Group and will play India on Friday and South Korea on Saturday
in the 1-8 placement round.
Hong Kong failed to win a set in the round and finished in last place in the Group. They did not advance to the placement round.
Leading the way for Japan was Yuya Ageba with 10 points, while Chi Wai Chan led Hong Kong with six points.
Japan is one of the best teams in this tournament, and showed it against Hong Kong winning the kill block battle 11-4, and besting Hong Kong in aces 5-0. They finished with a 42.03 efficiency percentage
and committed only eight spiking faults.
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