Race for Asia’s first Olympic ticket to get underway in Tianjin

The qualification process for the volleyball tournament at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will get underway with the start of the AVC Women's Volleyball Asian Championship on Friday, August 21. The city of Tianjin in eastern China will welcome the continental event, set to run through August 30 when the 2026 Asian champion will be crowned not only with the continental title, but also with Asia’s first berth at LA 2028 volleyball. In addition, all three medalists will earn tickets to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball World Cup. The entire competition will be streamed live on VBTV.

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

Asia’s best 12 women’s national volleyball teams will join the battles at the Tianjin Olympic Center Gymnasium. They are split into three round-robin pools of four. The pool winners, the pool runners-up and the two best-ranked third-placed teams will advance to the knockout stage of the championship. Quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches will follow to line up the podium.

Pool A is headlined by hosts China, the most decorated team in the history of the competition. They have won it a total of 13 times, but not since 2015. The three-time Olympic and two-time world champions also have four silvers and one bronze in their Asian Championship medal collection. At the previous edition in 2023, China finished runners-up. The pool also features Chinese Taipei, who have finished in fourth place as many as six times, but never made it to the podium, as well as Iran and competition rookies Iraq.

Defending Asian champions Thailand will lead Pool B. They have won three of the seven most recent editions of the continental championship and also have two silvers and three bronzes on their record. Kazakhstan with one silver in their medal showcase, Australia with two fourth-place finishes in the late 1970s, and Indonesia complete the line-up in Pool B.

The highest ranked Asian team Japan, currently number six in the FIVB World Ranking, stands out in Pool C. They reached the semifinals of the last FIVB World Championship in 2025 and finished in fourth place. The two-time Olympic and three-time world champions finished third at the 2023 Asian Championship and enriched their overall collection to five gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals. Korea, who have been on the continental podium as many as 17 times, but never on top of it (seven silvers and 10 bronzes), are also in Pool C. So are Vietnam, who achieved their best result in the history of the competition with the fourth place they claimed in 2023, and Hong Kong.

The competition will open on Friday at 10:00 local time (02:00 UTC) with a game between Chinese Taipei and Iran.

AVC Women's Volleyball Asian Championship: schedule and results

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