Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, October 6, 2008 -- Unbeaten Korea stunned the Asian champions Japan to set up the final clash of the inaugural Asian Wome’s Cup Volleyball Championship against China in a rematch of the 2006 Doha Asian Games showdown.

A large crowd of over 3,500 home spectators on Monday flocked into the competing venue at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall to cheer on their fvourite teams in the championship, which doubles as the Asian qualification round for the next year's FIVB World Grand Prix. Aside from China and Japan, which have already made the cut for the women's annual premier competition, Korea and Thailand have also booked their places since they made it to the semi-finals in the tournament.

The thrilling semi-finals on Monday saw Korea steamrolled past Japan in straight sets 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 26-24) in 67 minutes while China beat the host side also in straight sets 25-18, 25-23, 25-14 in 65 minutes.

In the more thrilling tussle between China and Thailand, home fans cheered on their team lustily all the way. Still, the host squad found the gritty visitors too strong.

In the first set, the home girls, boosted by boisterous home supporters, uncorked a series of sharp spikes from Wilavan Apinyapong and Onuma Sittirak and scintillating blocks from Pleumjit Thinkaow and Malika Kanthong to lead briefly..But China stormed back mightily from then on, with devastating Wang Yimei puncturing the Thai defence into pieces with her deadly spikes to the back court. China snatched the first set as expected 25-18.

The second set became more exciting as leads changed hands for several times. After a few smashes, China took the nail-biting 19-18 lead. Wang and Xue Ming were the principals for the China’s strong comeback as Wang’s spikes went unanswered and Xue effectively overcame the smaller blockers. China took the hotly-contested set 25-23.

The third set was completely dominated by China when home players became more prone with spiking and serving mistakes. The visitors easily clinched the set 25-14 and the match.

In the first semi-final encounter between Korea and Japan, current Asian champions but a newly-formed team, the unbeaten Koreans proved an impossible nut to crack for the younger rivals. Though Japan fought hardly and bravely, they could not meet the korean spiking as Kim Min-Ji and Lee Jung-Ok methodically took turns penetrating the rivals defence with their exceptional spikes. Korea soon won the match.

In the classification 5th-8th round earlier, Vietnam thrashed Malaysia 25-13, 25-7, 25-11 in 52 minutes in a totally lop-sided encounter to next battle it out against Chinese Taipei in the fifth-place play-off on Tuesday. Chinese Taipei survived a sturdy challenge from Australia to beat the much taller rivals 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-20, 25-13) in grueling 82 minutes.

For Chinese Taipei, the tournament serves as a stepping stone for their tougher campaign in the next year’s World Women Junior Championship in Mexico . They became new kids on the block after finishing second to Japan in the Asian Women’s Junior Championship on home soil to book their place in the world meet.

Inexperienced Malaysia, which have yet won a single set in the one-week tournament, and unfancied Australia on Tuesday vie for the seventh place in what could be a rematch of the group round-robin preliminaries. Australia downed Malaysia in straight sets in the preliminaries.

Competition schedule:

11am: 7th-8th place: Malaysia vs Australia

1pm: 5th-6th place: Vietnam vs Chinese Taipei

4pm: third-place play-off: Thailand vs Japan

6pm: gold-medal match: China vs Korea