The Vietnam men's volleyball team is currently ranked 56th on the FIVB rankings. Photo: AVC
Like the women's team, Vietnam is not ranked in the FIVB rankings due to not participating in continental tournaments for a long time. It was not until the AVC Challenge Cup 2023 in Taiwan this month that Vietnam was awarded 50 points. Together with the seven available points, the team has a total of 57 points.
At the AVC Challenge Cup 2023, Vietnam lost 1-3 to Australia in the group stage, deducting 1.07 points. But the team surprisingly won 3-1 against the highly rated host Taiwan, currently ranked 44th in the world, thereby adding 2.37 points for a total of 58.3 points.
Position 56 helps Vietnam lead the Southeast Asian region. Meanwhile, Indonesia ranked 65th with 43.79 points, Thailand ranked next with 43.56 points. But in reality, these two teams participated in many tournaments so they were deducted many points, but their level is considered higher than Vietnam.
Luck also accompanied coach Tran Dinh Tien and his students in their first AVC Challenge Cup. Pakistan's withdrawal from Group E helped Vietnam secure a place in the knockout round with Australia regardless of the result of the match. Here, setter Dinh Van Duy played brilliantly alongside main attacker Nguyen Ngoc Thuan - scoring 17 points, helping Vietnam beat host Taiwan in four sets with the score of 25-20, 23-25, 25-19 and 25-15. Because they were in the first bracket, Vietnam did not have to compete in the quarterfinals but went straight to the semi-finals.
Vietnam surprisingly defeated host Taiwan 3-1 to enter the semi-finals of the AVC Challenge Cup 2023. Photo: AVC
Vietnam's next opponent will be the winner of the Indonesia-Thailand match taking place today, July 13. At the 32nd SEA Games, Vietnam lost 0-3 to Indonesia in the semi-finals, lost 0-3 to Thailand in the group stage, and then won 3-0 in the bronze medal match. The remaining semi-final match will be between South Korea and the winner of the Australia-Bahrain match.
The AVC Challenge Cup 2023 will be held by the Asian Volleyball Confederation from July 8 to July 15 in Taiwan. The winning team will qualify for the FIVB Challenger Cup 2023 in Qatar.
In the women's version, Vietnam won the championship for the first time, after defeating Indonesia 3-2 in the final. The team continued to participate in the FIVB Challenger Cup 2023 held in France from July 27 to July 30.
Hieu Luong
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