Iran against China in direct duel for Asian ticket to Tokyo
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| Iranian players celebrate a point against Korea |
Lausanne, Switzerland, January 11 2020 – Iran and hosts China advanced to the deciding final of Asia’s continental Olympic qualification tournament in Jiangmen. On Sunday, they will lock horns for the single available Asian ticket to Tokyo 2020.
Five sets were necessary to determine the winner of the first semifinal at the Asian Olympic qualifier in Jiangmen. In a rollercoaster match, Iran emerged with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 15-13) win to claim the first spot in Sunday’s crucial final. The block was Iran’s key weapon in this battle as it chipped in with 17 stuffs towards the victory. Ali Shafiei (6) and Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi (5) combined were responsible for 11 of those as they became the team’s best scorers with a total of 17 and 16 points to their names, respectively. Korea’s Kwang-In Jeon scored a match high of 25 points, followed by teammate Chul-Woo Park with 22.
In the second semifinal, hosts China made sure they stayed in contention for the Olympic visa with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20) victory over Qatar. Chuan Jiang once again spearheaded the Chinese offence and hammered out as many as 23 spiking points at an impressive 61% success rate towards the win, becoming the top scorer of the match. Renan Ribeiro was Qatar’s highest scorer on 13 points.
In the last match of the African qualifier in Cairo that had no bearing on the first place and the ticket to Tokyo, secured by Tunisia on Friday, hosts Egypt cruised to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-18) win over Cameroon to finish the event on a high note and in the second place. Ahmed Shafik was the only player who reached the double digits, scoring 11 points for the home team.
Information on Saturday’s two South American qualification matches in Santiago to be posted here after the end of the competition day…
Information on Saturday’s two NORCECA qualification matches in Vancouver to be posted here after the end of the competition day…
Source: Volley - fivb.org
