Asian Volleyball Championship 2009

The 15th edition of the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship will take place from September 26 to October 5 in Manila, the beautiful capital city of the Philippines. A total of 18 teams will challenge for a place on the podium.

The participating teams in the biennial continental tournament will compete not only for regional top honors but also for the single ticket available to the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in Japan in November.

The 18 teams are the Philippines, defending champion Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Iran, Thailand, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Maldives, Hong Kong and Myanmar.

This edition of the tournament is expected to be the toughest one so far as there are at least five teams with an equal chance to reach the summit.

Among the participating teams, World No. 11 Japan has stamped its supremacy at the tournament, taking a total of six titles in the past 14 editions. They recently defeated their archrival Korea 3-0 and Iran 3-1 in the final round of Asian qualifying for the 2010 World Championship. With these successes, Japan is considered the team to beat and favorite to add another trophy to their huge collection.

However, Japan’s task will be tough as Asian teams become stronger and stronger, especially China, Australia, Korea and Iran.

World No. 8 China, while only collected three gold medals in 1979, 1997 and 1999, have been making impressive progress in recent years. Vowing to employ a fast game with various tactics, China comes into the Championship riding high after a fifth-place finish at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the team’s best ever showing and a good performance in the 2009 World League with three wins over Olympic title holder USA, Italy and the Netherlands. They also crushed Australia 3-1 in the Asian qualification tournament for the 2010 FIVB World Championship.

Team China started their final preparations for the tournament at the end of August. “We are going to try our utmost to regain the champion we lost ten years ago,” said Chinese head coach Zhou Jian’an.

Australia became the first team in the history of the championship to break the medal domination of three Asian titans — Japan, Korea and China — in more than 30 years when they won the continental championship in 2007. Australia has now progressed up the world ranking from 24th to a fantastic 15th in just one year.

In order to defend their hard-won title, team Australia has been making extensive preparations with tours to North American and Europe earlier this year.

Iran’s only success at the tournament was a bronze medal in 2003. But the Iranian team may play the role of dark horse, putting real pressure on the other hot favorites. Team Iran beat Japan 3-1, China 3-2, and Korea in the final to win the first Asian Men’s Cup in September 2008. Iran pulled out a big upset by edging Korea in a five-set thriller in the qualification tournament this August to earn the ticket to the FIVB World Championship for the first time. Iran is certainly a team to be reckoned with.

Korea, led by hard-attacking Moon Sung-min, one of the best players in Asia, remains a strong candidate for the crown. The team won the Asian title for the first time in 1989 and then repeated their glories in 1993, 2001 and 2003. With the exception of 1997, Korea has finished inside the top three in the past 14 editions. The Korean players are famous for their fighting spirit and never-give-up determination.

Though the results of the Korean Men’s National Volleyball Team have fallen short of expectations, there is a belief that the team is moving in the right direction thanks to continued competition against some of the world’s top teams. In the 2009 World League, Korea beat Argentina twice and Serbia once.

The 18 teams are drawn into four pools. The Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan and Myanmar are in Pool A, while Pool B comprises six-time title holder Japan, Thailand, India and Indonesia. China will play Iran, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong in Pool C, with defending champion Australia, Korea, Lebanon, Qatar and Maldives testing their mettle in Pool D.

After the single round-robin preliminaries from September 26-30, the top two squads from each pool will advance to the elite Pool E and Pool F, where the teams will again compete in a round-robin format, taking into account the fact that the results of the matches already played in the previous pools will be counted toward their pool rankings.

The remaining 10 teams who finish third to fifth in the four first-round pools will be relegated to the 9th to 18th classification round.

The quarterfinals will take place on October 3, with semifinals on October 4 and the finals on the following day.

Pool A: Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Myanmar
Pool B: Japan, India, Indonesia, Thailand
Pool C: China, Iran, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong
Pool D: Australia, Korea, Lebanon, Qatar, Maldives

Japan seizes seventh gold at Asian Men’s Championship
In a showdown of Asian Volleyball supremacy at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Monday, Japan battled back from a set down to defeat Iran 1-3 (19-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22) and win the 15th Asian Senior Men’s Championship.

It was Japan’s seventh gold in 15 appearances at the tournament, and follows titles in 1975, 1983, 1987, 1991,1995 and 2005.

Iran made due with silver, its best result in 13 championship appearances, bettering the bronze it won in 2003.

By reaching the finals, Iran had already booked a spot at the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in November, as Japan had already qualified for the tournament as hosts.

Blocking was the key to Iran’s fantastic performance in the first set. Japan’s floor coverage and serves were unstable, causing them to lag almost the entire set. Japan’s sporadic moments of glory came from the back-court attacks of Tatsuya Fukuzawa and Kunhirio Shimizu.

Iranian captain Alireza Nadi and co-middle blocker Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi, meanwhile, figured prominently in their team’s blocks. Japan could not control the pressure from the taller Iranians’ blocks and lost the first set 25-19.

Japan finally found their rhythm in the second set. Southpaw Shimizu pressured the Iranian reception with his rocket serves, while setter and captain Daisuke Usami successfully disguised Fukuzawa’s attacks from virtually all over the court.

Iran tried to narrow Japan’s increasing lead by beefing up its reception with substitutions in the back row. Wing hitters Farhad Nazari Afshar and Mohammad Mohammad Kazem kept the team’s hopes alive with hits from both sides of the net but Japan took the second set off a beautiful kill behind the attack line by Fukuzawa, 25-18.

Although Japan tried to continue pressing Iran’s floor defence with their patiently executed attack and counter-attack play, the third set saw errors pile up on both sides. Several errors and violations uncharacteristic of Japan plagued them. Iran, meanwhile, started to become unhinged later as they also collected their share of errors from serves and attacks. Wing hitters Shimizu and Mohammad Kazem led their respective teams in offense. Outside hitter Fukuzuwa again finished off the set by deflecting a hit from Iran’s block, 25-23.

Iran came out of the fourth-set huddle with renewed confidence as they bombarded Japan with attack combinations early in the set. Mousavi Eraghi contributed points with his quick attacks as well. Japanese floor coverage, however, was impeccable, enabling the team to consistently launch its own attack combinations. Their confidence grew as they dug and even blocked almost every ball that went their way, while Iran could not shake off the jitters as they committed errors at the net. Japan took the set, match and the championship off an Iranian service that went long, 25-22.

In the bronze medal match, Korea and China faced off in a battle of sheer offensive power that lasted until the fourth set. Korea won the match to capture their seventh bronze in fifteen editions.

Kim Yo-Han engineered a compelling scoring routine for the Koreans, staying undaunted by the threat of the Chinese blockers. Team captain Kang Don-Jin also stepped up to scoring duties for the Koreans especially during crucial plays. The team’s good reception also charted important saves for the Koreans. China, on the other hand, suited up its players from the bench, but could not seem to cook up the right combination of substitutions to quell the Koreans.

RESULTS
1st-2nd: Iran vs. Japan 1-3 (19-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22)
3rd – 4th: Korea vs. China 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23)
5th – 6th: Kazakhstan vs. Indonesia 3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 10-25, 17-25
7th- 8th: Australia vs. Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-14)
9th – 10th: Myanmar vs. India 0-3 (21-25, 16-25, 16-25)
11th – 12th: Lebanon vs. Vietnam 3-0 (25-23, 25-24, 25-22)
13th -14th: Qatar vs. Thailand 0-3 (17-25, 24-26, 21-25)
15th – 16th: Sri Lanka vs. Philippines 0-3 (match cancelled due to early department of SRI)

FINAL STANDINGS
1. Japan
2. Iran
3. Korea
4. China
5. Kazakhstan
6. Indonesia
7. Australia
8. Chinese Taipei
9. India
10. Myanmar
11. Lebanon
12. Vietnam
13. Thailand
14. Qatar
15. Philippines
16. Sri Lanka
17. Hong Kong
18. Maldives

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Best Scorer Kim Yo-Han (KOR)
Best Spiker Andri (INA)
Best Blocker Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi (IRI)
Best Server Kim Yo-Han (KOR)
Best Libero Yeo Oh-Hyun (KOR)
Best Setter Han Sun Soo(KOR)
Best Receiver Yeo Oh-Hyun (KOR)
Most Popular Player Kim Yo-Han (KOR)
Most Valuable Player Tatsuya Fukuzawa (JPN)

Quote from YavorD

I really want to know how such an award is determined - by the number of photographers taking pictures with him, or the number of girls around him

Quote from Russia_Nikolai_Karpol

the Most Popular Player award...is given to a player that touches the heart of the crowd.....

So, I think the second one