Volleyball  

NINH BÌNH — Korabelka Club won the 20th International Women's Volleyball Tournament, the VTV Ferroli Cup 2024, on August 31, in Ninh Bình Province.

The Russian side outclassed the national team of Việt Nam 29-27, 25-15, 25-15 to top the podium in their first time at the annual competition.

The national team had strong support of thousands of local crazy fans, but the Vietnamese players were outplayed for most of the time over the first set. They took lead and created a four-point gap of 22-18 against the taller and bigger rivals.

However, after time-outs, Korabelka changed their tactics and fought back, gradually narrowing the score before going ahead and winning 29-27.

The second and third sets were easier for the Russians. They not only efficiently blocked Việt Nam's attempts, but they also created unstoppable serves and hits to win, 25-15.

In addition to the championship trophy, Korabelka also bagged US$12,000.

For their second place, Việt Nam took $7,000.

In the third-place playoff, South Korean Expressway Club beat Kuanysh of Kazakhstan 25-23, 25-18, 20-25, 25-13 to take bronze and $5,000.

The two finalists also swept up all individual awards. 

Korabelka's Elizaveta Nesterova was the MVP. Her teammate Anna Uknevichus was the Best Setter and Anastasia Cherniaeva shared the Best Outside Spiker with Yunieska Robles of Expressway.

Vietnamese captain Nguyễn Thị Bích Tuyền was the Best Opposite Spiker, Nguyễn Thị Trinh and Korabelka's Aleksandra Zakharova were the Best Middle Blockers and Nguyễn Khánh Đang was the Best Libero.

Miss VTV Cup 2024 was Elizaveta Palshina of Korabelka.

On the same night of the awards, the Việt Nam team received some big news, they have earnt a place in the FIVB Women Championship 2025 for the first time, setting a milestone in the history for the sport.

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) sent an email to the Vietnamese governing body confirming that Việt Nam were the last team to qualify for the world's largest competition from August 22 to September 7, 2025 in Thailand

Việt Nam, along with China, Japan and the hosts, are the Asian representatives competing against 28 other teams from across all continents. 

The national volleyball team have had a series of remarkable achievements in the last two years.

They won the AVC Challenger Cup and the Asian Women's Club Volleyball Championship for the first time in 2023. The team also took part in the FIVB Challenger Cup world tournament and the world women's clubs tournament and won the silver medal at SEA Games 32, while also achieving a historic fourth-place finish at the Asian Games and the Asian Championship.

They put up a spirited defence in the AVC Challenge Cup 2024 and finished second SEA V-League 2024's two legs early this month. 

Speaking about the team's success, Director of the Sports Authority of Việt Nam Đặng Hà Việt said the women's volleyball was showing strong improvements thanks to the national development plans and clubs' investment.

"We have worked to find out suitable strategies to help Vietnamese sports including volleyball have breakthroughs in terms of international results," said Việt.

"We focus on improving players' quality and scouting for talented players. They are given best conditions in training and sent to compete internationally to lift their technique and gain experience. These activities have helped us grab sweet results."  VNS