News / Sports

Female Iranian v-ballers drop to Japan in Asia tournament

Saturday, 23 July 2016 2:41 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 23 July 2016 4:38 PM ]

Iran's volleyball team at the 18th edition of the Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Thailand

Young Iranian female volleyball players have lost to Japan at the preliminary round of the 18th edition of the Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Thailand.

On Saturday, the Japanese side opened the match in the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima in a strong fashion, taking an early lead. The Iranian volleyball players then took the game to the wire, but eventually fell 25-7 to their Japanese opponents at the end of the first set.

The Japanese did not give up in the second set, and maintained the lead to surge ahead, and roll to a 25-10 win.

Japan’s outfit continued to chip away in the final set. The Iranian sportswomen tried to reduce the gap but ultimately fell just short, and the East Asians came away with a 25-11 victory.

The 18th edition of the Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship started on July 23 and will wrap up on July 31.

The top two teams of the tournament will automatically qualify for next year’s FIVB Volleyball Women's U20 World Championship in Mexico.

The 15 teams participating in the sports event are divided into four pools with a single round robin system in place for the preliminary round, which takes place from July 23 to 25 in two venues, The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall and Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University Gymnasium.

The top two teams from each pool will advance to the quarterfinals, while the lower-ranked sides will compete in the 9th-15th classification round.

Pool A only consists of three teams: Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Title-holders China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and New Zealand are in Pool B.

Pool C includes India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan and Macau. Australia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan are in Pool D.

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