Tianjin claims honours at the AVC Women’s Club Volleyball Championship – Volleyball news
Tianjin Bridgestone, the women’s volleyball club from China, emerged as the top team of the 2012 AVC Women’s Club Volleyball Championship, which had an amazing run from April 21-29.
Nakhon Ratchsima in Thailand set up the field of play for this thrilling competition. A total of nine teams from the Asian region joined the campaign and competed for one ticket to the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship.
In the final showdown of the tournament on Sunday, teams from China and Japan came into stride. China’s Tianjin Bridgestone clashed with Toray Arrows of Japan and staged a great battle on the centre court. The influential final match spanned over five sets
and finally ended up with Chinese victory. Tianjin ladies posted 21-25, 25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 18-16 on board and seized 3-2 win.
The Chinese team dominated the whole scene throughout the tournament. They started off their journey in Pool B and finished the preliminaries with an outstanding 3-0 record. They took on different opponents but did not allow anyone to hinder their performance.
In the final round of the 2012 AVC Women’s Club Volleyball Championship, Tianjin continued with success and finished on the podium.
The pre-favourite team of the competition, the Japanese Toray, opened the final match on a very high note. A huge number of Toray fans showed up at the match venue, in order to back-up the team. Equipped with great support of fans, Japanese attackers Kaori
Kodaira and Arisa Takada stormed Chinese half with groundbreaking shots in the first set. The Chinese side could not resist and dropped the opening set, 21-25.
Nonetheless, Tianjin responded in the following set. Explosive Yin Na and Zhang Xiaoting put the team back on track and broke the rhythm of opponents. Second set came successful for China as Tianjin posted 25-18 on board, which tied the game score.
Tianjin extended its lead to 2-1 by winning third set before Toray created the deadlock of 2-2 by claiming fourth set in the match.
The game entered golden set, which was the final test of skills for both teams. However, Tianjin proved to be better and closed the set at 18-16, and announced 3-2 victory.
They secured the top slot and also sealed a berth at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship. The winning squad was awarded with the prestigious HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn trophy for the fourth time. Tianjin captured the first AVC Club
Volleyball Championship title in 2005. They carried the same momentum and added another trophy to their tally in 2006. In 2008, the Chinese team claimed third title win. After a break of three years, the team once again clawed its way to the top position.
In the next run, the team will travel to Doha, Qatar from October 13 to 19 for the Club World Championship.
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