Korea's players can look forward to competing in the World Championship
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 21, 2017 – Korea and Thailand both reached the Japan 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship after they maintained their unbeaten runs on Saturday, day four of the Japan 2018 - AVC Qualification Tournament that is taking place at Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty at the Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium in Thailand.
Two pools are currently taking place for AVC qualifying – one in Almaty and one in Nakhon Pathom in Thailand. Both pools run from September 20-24 and feature a single round-robin format, where the top two teams will earn the right to compete in the World Championship.
Pool A features China, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Fiji and Kazakhstan, while Pool B is made up of Korea, DPR Korea, Iran, Vietnam and Thailand.
Thailand held onto top spot in Pool B be defeating DPR Korea 3-0 (25-21, 25-21,25-19). Chatchu-on Moksri top-scored with 16 points, while captain Pleumjit Thinkaow and Chatchu-on Moksri contributed 15 points each.
“My players’ performance lived up to the coaches’ expectations,” Thailand head coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul said. “It was just the first mission of our team to qualify for the Japan finals. However, I want to praise DPR Korea for their solid performance in this match against us.”
Korea matched their run of three straight wins by beating Vietnam 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-16). They will now face Thailand on Sunday with the winner topping the pool.
Olympic champions China are on the verge of joining Thailand and Korea after they made it three wins from three with a straight-sets 3-0 (25-15, 25-6, 25-20) victory over Australia. They just need to beat Chinese Taipei on Sunday to guarantee their presence at Japan 2018.
Yuan Xinyue led scoring with 14 points, from nine attacks, one block and four service aces. Captain Zhu Ting and Gong Xiangyu added 13 points apiece.
“Everything went well in this match with our good coordination. I am really happy and proud to be part of this team,” Yuan said.
Kazakhstan gave themselves a chance of qualifying when they beat Chinese Taipei 3-1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-19, 25-20). They now need to beat Fiji on Sunday to qualify.