Korea’s U18 boys’ volleyball team is set for a ‘fateful Korea-Japan match’.

South Korea swept India 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-17) in the third match of Group D at the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asia Youth Championship 2024 Qualifiers in Bahrain on Tuesday (Nov. 30) to finish second in the group and advance to the quarterfinals. Next up is Japan, who will be looking for their fourth straight title.

Earlier, South Korea’s path to the quarterfinals was red-flagged from the start with a 2-3 loss to Pakistan in their first match of Group D. However, they turned things around with back-to-back shutouts over Kuwait and India. They qualified for the top round by finishing 1-2 in their group, 안전한 파워볼사이트 along with Pakistan, who went undefeated in qualifying.

South Korea and Pakistan were drawn in Pool F for the quarterfinals with Japan and Chinese Taipei, who finished first and second in Pool B, respectively. The top two teams will advance to the quarterfinals. However, South Korea and Chinese Taipei will have to deal with the fallout of not finishing first in the qualifiers. They won’t face their qualifying opponents in the quarterfinals, and their head-to-head record will be taken into account. As a result, Pakistan and Japan will start the round with one win and Korea and Chinese Taipei with one loss.

In order to reach the quarterfinals, South Korea will have to beat both Japan and Chinese Taipei and wait for the other teams’ results. The favorite is Japan. Even if Korea manages to defeat a relatively weak Chinese Taipei team, they will likely be unable to advance past Japan.

South Korea played Japan in a practice match as part of their acclimatization period before the tournament began, and the result was a sweep. After dropping the first set, they bounced back to take the second set, but the match was decided in the third set. They led 22-20 before losing 23-25.

Speaking to reporters on the 31st, U18 captain Lim Se-hoon said, “I felt we were evenly matched with Japan. However, in the second half, we lacked the strength to defend our points and lost the third set in front of our eyes. I think our ability to convert our chances into points was particularly disappointing.”

Lim concluded, “Since it was a Korea-Japan match, we are determined to win when we meet Japan again. I have enough confidence. We will review what was lacking and what was good and prepare well for the Japan match.”

South Korea will play the quarterfinal round of the tournament starting on March 1 against Japan. The top four finishers will qualify for the World Youth Championship the following year. South Korea has reached the quarterfinals of the tournament three times (2017, 2nd – 2018, 2nd – 2022, 4th) since finishing 6th in 2014. The last time they won the title was in 1999.