Iran Made her first ever record to finish 6th at AVC Women’s Cup

Chinese Taipei took their best-ever fifth place at the “SMM” 5th AVC Cup for Women at the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium here following a dramatic 3-1 ( 25-21 25-21 23-25 25-22) victory over Iran on Tuesday.

Chinese Taipei remained strong in their starting line-up which including three powerful attackers Wu Wei-Hua, Chang Chen-Yin and Lee Tzu-Ying, while Iran fielded the similar line-up which stunned Korea in straight sets in their 5th-8th classification round the previous day. They included Maedeh Borhani and Zainab Giveh.

Chinese Taipei and Iran started with almost the same level in the opening set which saw both teams exchange aggressive attacks to vie for the game domination. Levelling 6-6, Chinese Taipei seemed to have more individual talents in their side as they surged ahead the fighting Iranians 13-11. From then on, both teams entertained the crowds inside the competition venue with their never-say-die attitude in a long rally. Chinese Taipei grabbed the lead for good 17-12 and stormed on to win the first set 25-21.

In the second set, Chinese Taipei ’s form still lived up to all expectations. The 180cm-tall Chang Chen-Yin used her height advantage to block and attack well to put her team in front 20-14. Iran struck back, with mighty attacks from Mahsa Saberi and Maedeh Borhani to reduce the gap 21-16. Chinese Taipei’s solid defence with powerful attacks from Chang Chen-Yin still worked out pretty well as they clinched the set 25-21.

Holding a 2-0 advantage, Chinese Taipei shone through their superb form to take an early 16-11 lead, but Iran clawed their way back, scoring five successive points to catch up with the formidable rivals at 16-16 before advancing 21-24. The gallant Iranians allowed their rivals only two more points to close out the set 25-23.

The fourth set turned out to become a tense battle when both teams gave it all with their utmost efforts. As Iran led narrowly 20-18, Chinese Taipei attacked relentlessly to overtake the up-and-coming oppositions to win the set 25-22 and the match.

Wu Wei-Hua scored a team-high 16 points for Taiwan including 15 kills from 48 attempts. Chang Chen-Yin contributed with 14 kills. Soudabeh Bagherpour top scored with 13 points for Iran.