Japan wins the Girls Volleyball Tournament in Vietnam – Volleyball News
In the wake of upcoming Asian Cup Volleyball Championships slated for October, the Vietnam Television (VTV) recently organized a seven-day tournament, which drew teams from China, South Korea, Australia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Thailand, Japan, and hosts Vietnam. The northern province of Vinh P**c in Vietnam hosted the activity from July 14-21.
Japanese Girls did exquisitely well in the tournament and clawed their way to the top. In the final showdown of the tournament, Japanese musketeers were challenged by archrival North Korean team. The two sides contested their skills in a four-set affair, while Japan emerged successful. Team Japan sent 25-19, 25-16, 10-13, 25-19 on board and claimed victory with 3-1 ratio.
In the first set of the match, both teams exchanged long rallies and traded lead for a couple of time. Gradually, the Japanese hitters paced things with an onslaught of volleys and pushed the rival side behind. North Korea suffered the set-backs and kept in chase. Team Japan, on the other hand, showed remarkable consistency and secured first frame of the match with six points, 25-19.
Using the competitive advantage, Japan continued with hard-hitting in the second set. North Korea did try to come up, but faced a lot of resistance from the opposite side. Japan extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set with nine points. Following the loss of two sets in a row, North Korean squad managed to edge out Japan in the third set. Nevertheless, Japanese team bounced back in the fourth set and cruised past to victory.
The winning team got hold of the title trophy and also earned the prize money of US $8,000. North Korea could not live-up the dream to secure the top spot, but finished in the second place. The North Korean runner-up team received a suitcase of US$5,000. North Korea’s Jong Jin Sim was also named the best player of the tournament.
Elsewhere, South Korea overpowered home team of Vietnam in the third-position match. The visiting Korean team posted 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-25, 16-14) victory over hosts.
Equipped with stupendous support of local fans, Vietnam team put up a great effort but dropped the decision with a small margin. Home squad took a great start in the match and captured first frame. South Korea responded with back-to-back wins in the second and third sets, but Vietnam successfully tied the score at 2-2 by winning fourth set. Thereafter the 15-point golden set featured a point-to-point battle between two teams. Guest team from South Korea used two-point advantage to close the final set and announced match victory.
South Korea claimed third position in the tournament and pocketed US$3,000.
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