Korea's Im Donghyeok goes on the attack against Iran
Lausanne, Switzerland, April 4, 2017 – Korea will face Japan in the final of the 11th AVC Boy’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar after both maintained their unbeaten records on Monday.
Korea eliminated defending champions Iran, while Japan defeated China. The four teams will now represent Asia at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball U19 World Championship that takes place in Bahrain from August 17-27.
It required five sets to separate Korea and Iran with Korea eventually eliminating the seven-time champions with a 3-2 (25-19 25-22 23-25 16-25 15-9) win.
Korea’s Im Donghyeok led scoring with 41, while Morteza Sharifi top-scored with 30 points for Iran.
“For the first and second sets, our team did very well,” Korea team manager Park Wongil said. “In the third set Iran led 5-0 and I think it was because our team members were mentally broken. In the fifth set, we led all the way and eventually won it.
“It will certainly be a tough match against Japan. We will do our best.”
Japan again won in straight-sets and now have the chance to improve their silver medal from the last edition when they saw off China 3-0 (25-16 29-27 25-22). Kento Miyaura again led scoring, with 19 points. Zhang Jingyin top-scored for China with 17 points and Tian Cong added a further 12.
“It’s great for Japan to win this tough match against China and play in the final again,” Japan head coach Hiroshi Honda said. “The Chinese made it very difficult. They are tall with high blocks, but our teamwork worked out pretty well. The key to our victory was that we blocked well and had good reception.”
In the ranking matches Chinese Taipei defeated Australia 3-1 (25-19 25-15 19-5 25-21), while Thailand defeated hosts Myanmar 3-0 (25-15, 25-18 25-17) in the seventh-eight place match.