Iran and China complete the Asian Championship semifinals lineup in Tianjin

The lineup for Saturday's semifinals of the 2026 AVC Women's Volleyball Asian Championship was completed on Friday in Tianjin, when Iran and hosts China claimed the last two spots in the tournament's Final Four.

With the two national teams joining Japan and Thailand, who had qualified on Thursday, the tournament that awards a spot at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and three at the 2027 FIVB Volleyball World Cup enters its final and decisive portion over the weekend.

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

The two semifinals will be held on Saturday. Japan and Thailand will meet in the first of them, scheduled for 17:15 local time (9:15 UTC), while China and Iran duel later, at 20:00 (12:00 UTC).

AVC Women's Volleyball Asian Championship: schedule and results

The winners of the two semifinals will advance to Sunday's gold medal match, set to start at 18:45 (10:45 UTC), continue in the race for the Olympic berth and will both earn a spot at the 2027 World Cup. The third Asian representative at next year's main event will be determined in the bronze medal match, scheduled for 15:15 (7:15 UTC).

The second-best team in Pool A during the qualification phase, Iran are set to appear in the Asian Championship semifinals for the first time thanks to their 3-1 (19-25, 25-16, 25-12, 25-17) comeback win over Indonesia on Friday's quarterfinals.

Opposite Elaheh Poor Saleh carried Iran to victory with a fantastic 29-point performance that saw her produce 26 kills, two blocks and one ace. Outside hitter Fatemeh Khalili added another 15, with 13 kills and two blocks.

"I'm really proud of my teammates, my coach and everyone," Elahe said. "I thought we played really well against Indonesia."

China continue unstoppable

Playing at home, hosts China continued to dominate their opponents in the quarterfinals and are set to enter the semifinals without having dropped a set after they took Vietnam down 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-13) on Friday.

Outside hitters Wu Mengjie and Zhuang Yushan led the fourth Chinese victory in Tianjin by scoring 18 points each. Outside hitter Pham Quynh Huong scored 11 (nine kills, two blocks) for Vietnam.

"In the playoffs, every team wants to advance, and every match is dangerous," Wu remarked. "They played with their hearts and with great energy. We didn't find our best rhythm in the second set, but we'll look into it and fix it."

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