The 19th Asian Games Men’s Volleyball competition commenced today in Hangzhou, China, showcasing 19 teams distributed across six pools.
Pools and Teams:
- Pool A: Leading the pool is the host, China, following their victory at last year’s AVC Cup for Men in Thailand and their 16th place finish at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Nations League. They’re joined by Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
- Pool B: Current world No.11 and two-time defending champions Iran are pitted against Nepal and world No.74 Bahrain.
- Pool C: World No.27 Korea is in the spotlight along with world No.73 India and Cambodia.
- Pool D: This pool comprises World No.43 Chinese Taipei, World No.51 Pakistan, and Mongolia.
- Pool E: Features world No.17 Qatar, the AVC Challenge Cup champions Thailand, and Hong Kong China.
- Pool F: Newly crowned Asian champions and world No.5, Japan, make their mark alongside Indonesia, Philippines, and Afghanistan. Notably, Japan is taking the field with their second-string team of 11 players.
Post the pool round-robin preliminaries from September 19 to 21, only the top two teams from each pool will progress to the round of the last 12. These teams will then partake in cross matches, with winners advancing to fight for the top six spots and the others vying for ranks 7-12.
Today’s Match Results:
- Pool A: Kazakhstan def. Kyrgyzstan 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-15, 18-25, 15-11)
- Pool B: Nepal lost to Bahrain 1-3 (25-20, 20-25, 18-25, 15-25)
- Pool C: India def. Cambodia 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-19)
- Pool D: Pakistan def. Mongolia 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-20)
- Pool E: Thailand def. Hong Kong 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-13)
- Pool F: Japan def. Afghanistan 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-8) and Indonesia def. Philippines 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20)