Taipei, Chinese Taipei, September 15, 2011 – Defending Champion Thailand, 11 times gold medal winner China and 2010 Asian Games silver medalist Korea all clinched their first victories over their rivals in straight sets on the opening day of the 16th Asian Senior Women's Volleyball Championship at the National Taiwan University Gymnasium here on Thursday.
Meanwhile, host Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan also grabbed their first victory over Indonesia (3-0) and India (3-1) respectively in the nine-day event. World Championship third finisher Japan had a bye as their pool opponent Turkmenistan withdrew from the event at the last moment.
This Championship also doubles as the qualification tournament for two FIVB events. The eventual champions will move onto the World Cup in Japan, and the top two, except China and Japan who automatically qualify, will qualify for 2012 Grand Prix.
The Asian meet attracts a total of 13 teams who are divided into four pools for the preliminary round from 15 to 17, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the classification round for 1st to 8th and the third and fourth in each pool entering classification round for 9th to 13th .
The host Chinese Taipei, Iran and Indonesia are in Group A while Group B consists of top seed Thailand, Vietnam and Australia. Group C comprises of second seeded China, fifth seed and bronze medal winner at 2010 Asian Games Kazakhstan, People's Republic of Korea and India, with third finisher of last edition Japan, Asian Games silver medal winner Korea and Sri Lanka competing in Group D.
Pool A
Chinese Taipei 3, Indonesia 0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-15)
Hosts Chinese Taipei gave the home fans something to shout in the fourth match of the day as they saw off Indonesia in relatively easy straight sets (25-8, 25-12, 25-15) victory over Indonesia to win the pool A opening match at the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship.
The crucial win means that another victory over the pool's other rival Iran on the second day will send them to the pool's first place while Indonesia has a bye.
Chinese Taipei, with the support of partisan audience, started the game aggressively, and dominated through the match. Their left-handed ace spiker Chen Wan Ting often penetrated Indonesia's defense with powerful attacking. Though Indonesia managed to hit back gallantly, Tsai Yin Feng and Lin Chun Yi produced an offensive combination to overcome Indonesia's counter-attack.
Meanwhile Indonesia commits unforced errors in both spike and serve. Despite their determined effort, the Indonesians still found Chinese Taipei an impossible nut to crack. Although some bench players were put onto the court, Chinese Taipei still proceeded with excellent skills and claimed the match.
Mr. Norimasa Sakakuchi from Japan, head Coach of Chinese Taipei, commented on his team's performance in the first match: “Their performance was not satisfying; they should play with strong will no matter facing strong teams or not.” Captain Teng Yen Min agreed “We did not play to our full capacity today, but we will surely do better and better in the following matches.”
Pool B
Thailand 3, Vietnam 0 (25-15, 27-25, 25-8].
Title-holder Thailand began successful title defense at the Asian Senior Women's Championship by sweeping their arch-rival Vietnam 25-15, 27-25, 25-8 in just 65 minutes.
Thailand and Vietnam are two strong teams in Southeastern Asia and know each other well as they often meet in the SEA Games.
However, Thailand showed much powerful attacking abilities and pulled off an unexpectedly easy win over Vietnam in the third match of the day. Thailand proved their superiority soon after the match began, with forceful attacks breaking the defense of Vietnam without much difficulty. Facing their arch-rivals, Vietnamese girls tried their utmost, and with strong perseverance, even forced the second set into 25-25. Only with unforced errors, they lost the match.
Onuma Sittirak, a powerful and versatile player, was the best scorer in the match, collecting 17 points for Thailand while her teammates Malika Kanthong and Pleumjit Thinlaow scored 16 and 11 points a piece. For Vietnam, captain Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa clinched 12 points, followed by Do Thi Minh with seven points.
Thailand held advantage in spike (44 -28, in block (11-7) and in serve (7-1) while with less errors (12-15)
Pool C
Kazakhstan 3, India 1 (22-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-10)
Despite the unexpected loss of the first set, Kazakhstan took advantage of their overwhelming height and superior attack, gradually regaining their composure and defeated India in four sets (22-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-10) on the first day of the 16th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship.
The smaller Indian girls played cleverly as with an average height of 173cm against that of Kazakhstan's 182cm, they managed to avoid taller Kazakh's block with second-touch shots, tips and spiking in their openings, resulting in the first set win and a four points lead at 20-16 in the second set. But on the edge of falling behind 0-2, the Kazakhs suddenly woke and found their form, coming strongly with flurry of attacks and blocks, rallying to turn the set around, and then overtaking their rivals with the help of more kills from Olga Dobryshevskaya, who is the top scorer of her team with 24 points.
Kazakhstan collected a 16-5 margin in blocks and 57-45 in spiking to offset India's slim 10-6 edge in service aces.
China 3, PR Korea 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-15)
With 11 gold medals of the Asian Women's Championship in their hands, China closed the first day competition with a convincingly play, downing People's Republic of Korea in straight sets (25-19, 25-15, 25-15).
Both China and PR Korea went out to the court very aggressive. However, China took control of the match quickly due to continuing series of hits by 189cm high wing spiker Hui Ruqi and double blocking from opponent Zhang Lei and middle blocker Ma Yunwen. Though China's dominance was apparent. PR Korea, with firm determination, never gave up fighting. They strived to snatch points from the taller Chinese girls, and managed to surprise their opponent by spectacular receptions and spikes. Their amazing digs won loud cheers from the spectators. But China proved their supremacy hard to shatter as with their towering heights they bombed opponent's court ceaselessly on one hand and it is very difficult for D.P Korea to beat China's blocking walls on the other hand.
Mr. Yu Juemin, China' head coach, expressed his satisfaction with the team's performance. “Overall, our team did a good job today; their performance reached the standard.” Yu also noted that the team's goal in this tournament is “to try our best to book the ticket to the World Cup to be held in Japan in November.”
Young and promising Hui Ruoqi, who was the best scorer for China with 19 points, said at the post-match press conference “P.R Korea's defense was more outstanding than ours, and that is what we can learn from them.”
The last time Hui played in this venue was three years ago at the 14th Asian Junior Volleyball Championship 2008 when she and her team swallowed bitter defeat in the semi-finals, and were not able to qualify for the World Junior Volleyball Championship. But that defeat “is now a spur for us, and we certainly have grown both in age and also in experience,” said Hui.
Pool D
Korea 3, Sri Lanka 0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-6)
Korea, who finished fourth place after Thailand, China and Japan at the previous edition in Hanoi of Vietnam two years ago, got off to a flying start by pulling off a scintillating win over Sri Lanka 25-9, 25-11, 25-6 in a total one-sided battle in Group D.
Due to the great gap between the two teams, Korea head coach Kim Hyung Sil sent all the 12 players to the court, with 10 players grabbing points. Korea had their technical advantage in all the field. The 12 players combined to spike for 32 points totally compared with that of only 15 and 8-1 margin in blocks and 15-1 edge in service aces. Their opponents made altogether 20 errors with only nine made by Korea.
30-years-old veteran Jung Dae Young led Korea with 10 points, while teammate Kim Se Young added eight points and 23-years-old spiker Kim Yeon Koung and Han Song Yi with seven apiece. Sri Lanka's caption Jayamaha Dinesha totaled a team-high seven points only.
Korea, which was supposed to face Turkmenistan on the second day of the Championship, now will meet their longtime rival Japan on the third day due to Turkmenistan's last moment withdraw from the tournament..
Day two schedule:
Pool A: Iran vs. Chinese Taipei
Pool B: Australia vs. Vietnam
Pool C: PR Korea vs. Kazakhstan; China vs. India
Pool D: Japan vs. Sri Lanka
