Taipei, Chinese Taipei, September 24, 2008 ---The three traditional powerhouses Japan, China and Korea all grabbed victories in their last matches and finished the top three in Pool B while Thailand netted a crucial win over Indonesia to place second in Pool A and New Zealand surprisingly entered the top eight in the last day of the preliminary round of the 14th Asian Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship here on Wednesday.

The in-formed Thailand made the Indonesians seem all tired and exhausted today, downing them 3-0(25-17, 25-16, 25-15) and remains at second place in pool A, just behind the host Chinese Taipei who won all the four match in the pool. Kazakhstan beat the Aussies 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23) for the third place in pool A, followed by Australia.

In Pool B, Japan and China won their match with ease. Japan secured its top seat in the group after crushing Sri Lanka 3-0 (25-3, 25-4, 25-10) while China also passed India 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-10), following Japan in second place.Korea defeated New Zealand 3-1(25-15, 23-25, 25-14, 25-13).

The most unexpected game came in the last moment in the day when team New Zealand surprised Korea, by taking one set from them, thus entering the top eight by finishing fourth in Pool B.

New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka all have a win and loss record of 1-4, but New Zealand placed fourth with better points percentage, followed by India and Sri Lanka.

“New Zealand is a very good team, as they gradually improve in the match, and they did very good in spiking and blocking. My team was in bad condition and performed unsatisfactorily,” said Korea head coach Shin Man Geun.

New Zealand head coach Steward Henderson congratulated his team on today’s performance: “We don’t have international games in New Zealand, you know, and it’s awesome to be able to come here and take one set from teams like Korea. And it’s also great to rank higher than our big brother Australia in this tournament.” said Henderson jokingly.

The teams will take one day’s rest before they move on to the next round of the tournament.

On Friday, September 26, in the quarterfinals for 1st to 8th place, Chinese taipei wiil meet New Zealand and Japan will play against Kazakhstan while China is to fight Indonesia and Korea to vie for a semifinal berth with Thailand.

In the playoff matches for ninth to 11th place, according to the tournament’s regulations, Australia, 5th in pool A, will play Sri Lanka, the 6th in pool B and the winner of the match will meet India, fifth finisher in Pool B for the ninth place in the tournament and the loser of the match betrween Australia and Sri Lanka will be the 11th finisher of the Championship.

Wednesday results:

Pool A:

Thailand beat Indonesia 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-15)

Kazakhstan beat Australia 3-1(25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23)

Pool B:

Japan beat Sri Lanka 3-0 (25-3, 25-4, 25-10)

China beat India 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 5-10)

Korea beat New Zealand 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-14, 25-13)

The final group standings are as follows (tabulated under matches played, won, lost and points):

Pool A

Chinese Taipei 4 4 0 8

Thailand 4 3 1 7

Indonesia 4 2 2 6

Kazakhstan 4 1 3 5

Australia 4 0 4 4

Pool B

Japan 5 5 0 10

China 5 4 1 9

Korea 5 3 2 8

New Zealand 5 1 4 6

India 5 1 4 6

Sri Lanka 5 1 4 6