On the final day of the one-week tournament, more than 4,000 local enthusiasts crammed into the venue to support their favourite teams. In the final clash, China pulled off a convincing 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 victory over the Koreans in a rematch of the 2002 Busan Asian Games showdown, stamping their authority on Asian Volleyball by not lose a single set en route to Tuesday’s conclusion. Thailand had to be content with third place following their dramatic 3-2 (28-26 ,23-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-7) victory over Japan in a heart-pounding play-off. Earlier, world No. 63 Vietnam finished fifth after beating Chinese Taipei, the team they had also got the better of in the preliminaries. The Vietnamese, powered by hard-attacking Bui Thi Hue, sent the smaller-built opponents packing 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 in a 62-minute tussle. In the seventh-place play-off, world No. 36 Australia, who finished a distant eighth at last year’s Asian meet here, downed lacklustre Malaysia 25-21, 25-15, 25-17. Malaysia, who could not break the deadlock in their determined attempts of beating any team in the competition including a letdown to the same rivals in the group round-robin preliminaries, left the battleground with heads bowed in great despair on Tuesday after claiming the eighth and last spot without winning a single set. The continent’s prestigious championship doubled as the Asian qualification tournament for the next year’s 12-team FIVB World Grand Prix, scheduled for a four-week period in July and August. The preliminary rounds are set from July 31 to August 16, including a stop in Brazil for the first time. The final round involving hosts Japan and the top five teams from the preliminaries will take place from August 19 to 23 in Tokyo, Japan. Four Asian teams China, Japan , Korea and Thailand qualified for the 2009 FIVB event. The other eight teams are the Olympic winners Brazil, USA, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany and wild-card Poland. "I'm happy with my girls' form despite the fact that they played below-par in the second and third sets as they made too many mistakes. Our major problem was on the first-ball reception. I think my girls are also satisfied with the third place. However, we need a long-term plan to encamp younger generations in order that they can replace the experienced veterans when they are absent," Thai Head Coach Natapon Srisamutnak said. Final rankings 1. China, 2. Korea, 3. Thailand, 4. Japan, 5. Vietnam, 6. Chinese Taipei, 7. Australia, 8. Malaysia Individual awards Best Server: Nanami Inoue (Japan) Best Setter: Lee Sook-Ja (Korea) Best Spiker: Wang Yimei (China) Best Scorer: Kim Min-Ji (Korea) Best Libero: Wanna Buakaew (Thailand) Best Blocker: Xue Ming (China) Most Valuable Player: Wei Qiuyue (China) |
