Lausanne, Switzerland, January 11, 2020 – Thailand and Korea will battle it out for one ticket to the women’s volleyball tournament of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, after both won their semifinals at the Asian qualifiers in Nakhon Ratchasima Saturday evening.
This story will be updated following Saturday’s matches at the Europe and North & Central America and Caribbean qualifiers
Chinese Taipei took Korea by surprise, grabbing the first set, but the Montreal 1976 bronze medallists quickly reacted to put things straight and cruised on to an otherwise emphatic 3-1 (18-25, 25-9, 25-15, 25-14) win.
Kim Heejin scored 18 points for Korea, who played throughout without their start player and captain Kim Yeon Koung, but overall in the match totally outserved (12 aces to 4) and outblocked (16 stuffs to 3). Chang Li-Wen was Chinese Taipei’s best scorer on 14.
Thailand overcame an attempt by Kazakhstan to come back, finishing the other semifinal 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-21) to earn a place in Sunday’s final.
The hosts just managed to cancel two set points in the third, before Kazakhstan got it right in their third try to extend the match.
Pimpichaya Kokram with a match high of 29 points led Thailand. Sana Anarkulova and Alessya Safronova were jointly Kazakhstan’s best scorers on 16 each.
Kazakhstan’s Sana Anarkulova breaks through the Thailand block of Tichakorn Boonlert and Nootsara Tomkom in the semifinals of the Asia qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Argentina from South America and Kenya from Africa have already punched their tickets to Tokyo 2020 since Thursday.
They join Serbia, China, USA, Brazil, Russia and Italy who had already qualified since last August through an intercontinental process, plus Japan who had secured their spot by default as hosts of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The remaining three tickets to complete the 12-team Olympic lineup will be handed out on Sunday in Asia, Europe and North & Central America and the Caribbean.
Full schedules and results of all the continental qualifiers for Tokyo 2020:
● Africa: 5-9 January in Yaounde
● Asia: 7-12 January in Nakhon Ratchasima
● Europe: 7-12 January in Apeldoorn
● North & Central America and Caribbean: 10-12 January in Santo Domingo
● South America: 7-9 January in Bogota
Quick links – Volleyball:
FIVB Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification
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Source: Volley - fivb.org
