Vietnamese team achieves historic qualification for Club World Champs

For the first time in history, a Vietnamese team earned the right to participate in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship. Sport Center 1 Hanoi were their country’s first team to win the Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship and qualified for the global event later this year.

The 2023 edition of the continental event was held from August 25 through May 2 in Vietnam’s Vĩnh Phuc Province with the participation of nine women’s teams from China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Thailand and the host country.

Sport Center 1, practically consisting of the Vietnamese national team line-up, went unbeaten through the entire tournament. Last week they topped the four-team round-robin Pool A, defeating all three of their opponents. Then on Monday, they achieved a 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-16) semifinal victory over China’s Liaoning Donghua Yingkou, and in Tuesday’s big final in front of three thousand fans, the home squad battled back from two sets down against Thailand’s Diamond Food Fine Chef - Air Force Bangkok to triumph as champions after a 3-2 (21-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-10) win. Sport Center 1’s outside hitter Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, who contributed 30 points towards the final victory, was named Most Valuable Player of the championship.

Diamond Food, who had hammered out a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-23) sweep of their semifinal against Chinese Taipei’s King Whale Taipei, settled for silver, while Liaoning took the bronze after a 3-1 (26-24, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21) win over King Whale in the third place match.

Setter Nootsara Tomkom (Diamond Food), Brazilian opposite Beatriz Flavio de Carvalho (King Whale), outside hitters Tran Thi Thanh Thuy (Sport Center 1) and Sasipaporn Janthawisut (Diamond Food), middle blockers Kaewkalaya Kamulthala (Diamond Food) and Wang Lujia (Liaoning Donghua), and libero Nguyen Khanh Dang (Sport Center 1) made up the tournament’s Dream Team.

Watch replays of the Club World Champs matches on VBTV.

Quick links:
Women's Club World Championship 2023
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