Japan and Iran score second wins at Asian Champs, Chinese Taipei celebrate first victory

Japan and Iran scored their second victories at the AVC Men's Volleyball Asian Championship and are very close to booking their spots in the quarterfinals. On the third competition day in Fukuoka, they swept their matches against Bahrain and India, respectively, in straight sets. Chinese Taipei registered their first success in Japan on Sunday, a straight-set win over Qatar. The tournament also serves as a qualification event for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and for the 2027 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Cup and is streamed live and on demand on VBTV.

• Watch the AVC Men's Volleyball Asian Championship on VBTV

Unlike their first win two days ago, now Japan got their job done in three sets. Nearly seven thousand fans in the stands at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium cheered on as the home team mastered a 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-23) shutout of Bahrain to top the current Pool A standings on a 2-0 win-loss record, 6 points and a 6-1 set ratio. Bahrain are yet to win their first set in Fukuoka after two matches played. Outside hitter Ran Takahashi was the best scorer of the match with 19 points under his belt. He fired three aces and raised one kill block, while swinging at a 71% success rate. His cross-court teammate and captain Yuki Ishikawa put up three blocking points towards a total of 12 in the game. Their Bahraini counterpart Mahmood Ahmed Abdulwahed led his team with 10 points.

Iran scored their second straight-set win in Pool B, a 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-18) shutout of India, who are also yet to win a set after two matches played. The winners were spearheaded by 22-year-old outside hitter Poriya Khanzadeh with a match-high 20 points. He spiked 18 at a 67% success rate in attack and put away one ace and one kill block. Middle blocker Mohammad Valizadeh impressed with five of Iran’s 16 stuffs in the match to finish with 11 points. Opposite Ali Hajipour (Haji) also chipped in with 11 points. Once again, outside Chirag Yadav with 11 points, and opposite and captain Jerome Vinith Charles with 10 points, were India’s leading scorers of the game.

Opposite and captain Chang Yu-Sheng led Chinese Taipei to their first win in Fukuoka. In a Pool C fixture, he raised six kill blocks towards a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 28-26) shutout of Qatar, who suffered their second straight-set defeat of the tournament. Chang also fired an ace and 13 spike kills to finish with a match-high 20 points. Taiwanese outside hitter Wen Yi-Kai added another 15 points, including two blocks and an ace. Three players reached the double digits on the Qatari side – outside Yousef Alyafeai with 13 points (two blocks), 13-year-old opposite Mubarak Musa Thiik Madut with 11 (three aces, one block), and 41-year-old middle blocker and captain Ibrahim Mohamed with 11 (two aces, one block).

The Asian Championship continues on Monday, September 7, with Oman against Australia in Pool A at 10:00 local time (01:00 UTC), New Zealand against China in Pool B at 13:30 (04:30), and Thailand against Korea in Pool C at 17:00 (08:00).

AVC Men's Volleyball Asian Championship: schedule and results

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