Taipei, Chinese Taipei, September 22, 2008 --- On the third day of the 14th Asian Women Junior Volleyball Championship held in in Taipei's T.U.C. Hall, Host Chinese Taipei and Japan continued their winning run with third victories, remaining on top in the respective groups, while China, Korea and Indonesia also claimed important victories.

In the day’s matches, host Chinese Taipei defeated Thailand in three sets 25-22, 25-16, 25-21, and Indonesia edged Kazakhstan 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 15-10) In Group A.

In Group B, the runner-up of 2006 tournament Japan, high-spirited Korea and defending champion China all had an easy breezy game today, triumphing their rivals in three sets. Defending champion China took their ease to beat the much shorter Sri Lankan 25-11,25-11, 25-9; Korea relished their victory over India 25-12, 25-15, 25-14, while the Japanese girls obtained their third win in the tournament, downing New Zealand in straight sets 25-9, 25-4, 25-7.

In the fourth match of the day, Indonesia had to fight five sets to secure the success. The first set was a tie between the two teams, but the Kazakhstanis took the set 25-21; team Indonesia came back in the second and the third sets with the firm blocking of No.10 Agustin Wulandari. The fourth set was again taken by team Kazakhstan owing to several passing and receiving errors from the opponent; even so, the Indonesian girls, lead by No.8 Novia Andrianti’s effectual spikes, controlled the fifth set and eventually won the game..

In the last match of the day, supported by local spectators, Chinese Taipei led through most of the first set, and forced Thailand to make many unforced errors; however, approaching the end of the set, Chinese Taipei just couldn’t win the last point as their self-produced errors increased. Fortunate enough, the set was given by Thailand with a serving error.

Powered by No 3 Tseng Tzu Yu’s serving and No.1 Chen Wan Ting’s spikes, added with No.12 Chen Shih Ting’s solid blocking, Chinese Taipei extended their swiftness into the second set and took the set 25-16. Yet team Thailand, did not depressed by the loss of previous sets, started the third set with an 8-4 lead; Chinese Taipei, on the other hand, strove through the set and finally took the lead 20-19 as head coach Sakakuchi Norimasa fielded No.9 Yang Ya Chu on court to deliver some excellent servings In the end, the host girls gained their third win in the tournament and remained in the first place in pool A, scoring 25-22, 25-16, 25-21.

When asked about today’s match, Chinese Taipei head coach Sakakuchi Norimasa commented: “Thailand’s middle blockers do not move quickly enough, so we can penetrate from the middle.” As for Chinese Taipei’s performance,he revealed:”I allow my players much liberty in the games in order to foster their ability to judge; when the skill of every participating team is close, the players’ ability to judge during the games would make the difference.

“Though pressure do exist, we only focus on today’s match and do not think much about matches in the following days,” said No.12 Chen Shih Ting, who performed excellently today.

The Asian Junior Women Volleyball Championship is drawing a total of 11 teams, which are pooled into two groups for the preliminary round. Host Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Australia and Indonesia will play against each other in Pool A while defending Champion China, runner-up of last edition Japan, Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand and Korea are in Pool B.

The group standings after the third round are as follows (tabulated under matches played, won, lost and points):

Pool A

Chinese Taipei 3 3 0 6

Indonesia 3 2 1 5

Thailand 2 1 1 4

Australia 2 0 2 2

Kazakhsta 2 0 2 2

Pool B

Japan 3 3 0 6

Korea 3 2 1 5

China 3 2 1 5

India 3 1 2 4

Sri Lanka 3 1 2 4

New Zealand 3 0 3 3