Japan, Korea, Iran and China clinch berths at U19 World Champs

Lausanne, Switzerland, April 3, 2017 – Japan, Korea, Iran and China will compete at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball U19 World Championship after they reached the AVC Asia Boys’ U19 Championship semifinals on Monday. 

The four will now head to the World Championship which takes place in Bahrain from August 18-27 after their success in the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium in Nay Pwi Taw, Myanmar. 

Japan were the first to qualify after they defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-19 25-20 25-14) to continue their run without dropping a set. They are now one victory from matching their silver medal from the Sri Lanka 2014 edition. 

Kento Miyaura scored a team-high 23 points including 22 kills from 38 attempts and Mahiro Saeki contributed 11 attack hits, while Huang Shih-Chan led Chinese Taipei with 10 points.

“I’m happy that my team qualified for the World Championship,” Japan’s head coach Hiroshi Honda said. “Chinese Taipei are a good team with good defence and reception.
 

“To beat them, we came up with combination attacks and blocks to score points. In the semi-finals, it’s possible that we will play China. They are tall with high blocks. We have to make a good game plan how to cope with their blocks.”

Indeed, Japan will meet China in the semifinals after Wang Haichuan’s team defeated Australia 3-0 (25-19 25-22 25-21) thanks chiefly to Xiu Chengcheng’s match-high 16 points.

The second semifinal will be between Korea and Iran, a repeat of the side’s opening match that Korea won. 

Korea enjoyed a 3-0 (25-11 25-14 25-12) victory over hosts Myanmar, while Iran also reached the semifinals with a straight-sets victory, in their case a 3-0 (25-16 25-19 25-19) win over Thailand.