Volleyball

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam are aiming for the highest possible result at the 22nd Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship which will be held in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

They have joined 13 other teams at the venue which is a large province on the northeastern plateau around 259km from Bangkok. They will vie for top honours and accumulate points for FIVB World Rankings.

Việt Nam will play Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei and South Korea in Pool C.

World No 35 South Korea are the strongest team in the group, having finished runners-up seven times. 

Taipei and Uzbekisan are No 50 and No 64, respectively, lower than Việt Nam in the ranking. The trio met each other at the recent AVC Challenge Cup where Việt Nam took the trophy home with a winning streak.

All four teams will seek their unprecedented Asian title at the 5,000-seater Chartchai Hall and The Mall Korat’s MCC Hall.

Hosts and world No 15 Thailand, which captured the Asian title twice in 2009 and 2013, are in Pool A together with Mongolia, which finished 11th in their last appearance at the 2015 edition in China, and world No 51 Australia.

Pool B consists of world No 8 Japan, defending and consecutive two-time Asian champions, world No 63 India and Iran, current world No 61.

Mainland China, world No 6, former 13-time Asian champions, are in Pool D, with Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.

Participating teams will compete in the round-robin preliminaries, with only top two teams from each pool advancing to the last eight, split into Pool E and Pool F.

In the last eight, teams will be pitted in the round-robin competition once again, with top two teams from each pool contesting the cross semi-finals. The two winning teams will next face off in the final showdown on September 6, while the losers will fight it out in the third-place playoff clash for bronze medal.

Coach Nguyễn Tuấn Kiệt does not have much time to prepare for the tournament after wrapping up the VTV Cup event on August 26.

However, the Cup victory was a strong base for him and the team which features both senior and junior players.

"Players with best performance are called to serve the national team. There are experienced and young players to compete at the Asian championship as we want to give them more chance to sharpen their skills for further events," said Kiệt.

"When I was assigned head coach of the team, my tasks were to win medals at the 32nd SEA Games and the VTV Cup. My team and I have completed all. So in Thailand, we are not shoulder any target. My players are asked to do their best so that we can go as far as possible and earn highest result."

Việt Nam's best results was finishing fifth in 2015 and 2017.

The eight-day topflight championship will begin on August 30 and end on September 6.

Việt Nam did not compete in the latest event in 2019 when Japan beat Thailand to in the final lift the trophy. VNS