In an energetic, almost two hour final against Thailand today (Sunday), Japan won the 20th Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, hosted by South Korea since August 18th.
Japan opened the match with a comfortable win 25-22 in the first set.
Thailand came back to win 25-18 in 2nd set with several strong serves and efficient blocks.
In the 3rd set, Japan managed a comfortable 25-18 win over Thailand when Thailand’s block strategy suddenly dropped.
The two teams battled forcefully with Japan needing one more set to win the title, while Thailand needing to survive by winning the set. They took turns to lead each other by only one point. Japan, however, managed to tear any lead away from Thailand from the 19 point mark. Thailand strove to tighten the set to 23-23, but Japan finally managed to clinch the deal at 25-23.
Thailand’s Nussara Tomkom was awarded ‘Best Setter’ and Piyanut pannoy won ‘Best Libero’ of the tournament.
Japan has been able to retain its fifth Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship title while Thailand is a two times runner-up.
En route to the final, Thailand beat the mighty China 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 34-32, 25-23) in a neck and neck competition in the Semi-Final on Saturday, lost to the host South Korea 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21) in the 2nd round Friday and defeated Iran 3-0 (25-16,25-21, 25-13) in the 1st match in the 2nd round on Thursday.
Thailand defeated Taiwan 3-1 (20-25, 25-13, 25-22 and 25-20) and swept New Zealand aside 3-0 (25-9, 25-13 and 25-15) in the 1st round of the tournament.
