AVC Women’s U23 Championship/GTM Takes Place in Nakhon Ratchasima

Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, May 11, 2017 – All is set for the SMM 2nd Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship from May 13 to 21 at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall, with 13 teams vying for the top two teams to test their mettle at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U23 World Championship in Slovenia between September 10 and 17.

Hosts Thailand, silver medalists at the previous edition in the Philippines two years ago, Macao and Hong Kong have been drawn in Pool A, with Japan, Vietnam and Uzbekistan in Pool B. Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Australia and Sri Lanka are in Pool C, while Pool D comprises Iran, Malaysia and New Zealand.

A total of 13 teams will compete in the pool round-robin preliminaries from May 13 to 15. Only top two teams from each pool will advance to the playoff matches in the round of the last eight teams, while teams finishing third and fourth places will be relegated to the 9th-13th classification round. The quarter-finals will be held on Friday, May 19 to decide the four winning teams in the semi-finals. The championship will come to a conclusion on Sunday, May 21.

Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, Secretary-General of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and Control Committee Chairman of the SMM 2nd Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship, presided over the General Technical Meeting at the Orapim Room in Sima Thani Hotel in Nakhon Ratchasima on Friday, with headaches and staff teams from all 13 participating teams participating.

The SMM 2nd Asian Women’s U23 Championship will kick off on Saturday at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall, with Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka setting up the curtain-raisers. The other encounters see Malaysia take on Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan challenge Australia, Thailand play Hong Kong and Vietnam are pitted against Uzbekistan

In the previous edition in the Philippines two years ago, China were crowned the eventual champions after pulling off a 3-1 victory over Thailand. Korea finished third, with Japan in fourth position.