Thailand defeat Bahrain in the final showdown to win the historic title at 2023 Asian Challenge Cup for Men in Chinese Taipei
Bangkok, Thailand, May 3, 2024 – The drawing of lots for the 2024 AVC Challenge Cups was held on Zoom on Friday, with AVC Executive Director Mr Shanrit Wongprasert conducting on behalf of the AVC Sports Events Council and AVC Officer Ms Nattalida Sumdangdech and Ms Jitapha Korsanan from Thailand Volleyball Association International Department assisting.
Also attending the online meeting were FIVB Director in Asia and Oceania Mr Luis Alexandre, AVC Secretary General Mr Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai and representatives from two host federations, Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) and Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA).
Kiattipong
The 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women will be held at Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila, Philippines from May 22 to 29, while the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Men will take place in Isa Town, Bahrain between June 2 and 9. Both events will serve as qualification tournaments for the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cups, with the eventual champions in the men’s event in Bahrain and the women’s tournament in Philippines securing their berths in the respective FIVB Men’s and Women’s Challenger Cups this July although host countries for both events in the 2024 FIVB Challenger Cups have yet been revealed.
Vietnam celebrate their hard-fought 3-2 win in the showdown against hosts Indonesia at the 2023 AVC Challenge Cup for Women
The champions of each tournament in the 2024 FIVB Challenger Cups will qualify for the VNL 2025, set to be held from June 2 to July 27 for the women’s tournament and June 9 to August 3 for the men’s competition.
A total of 10 teams confirmed their participation in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women. According to the Friday’s results of the drawing of lots, hosts Philippines, Chinese Taipei, India, Iran and Australia are in Pool A, while Pool B comprises Vietnam, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Hong Kong, China.
Teams will first contest the pool round-robin preliminaries from May 22 to 26, with India taking on Iran, Chinese Taipei facing Australia, Singapore playing Kazakhstan and Hong Kong China challenging reigning champions Vietnam on May 22, the very first day of the eight-day tournament.
Despite the fact that the 2024 AVC Challenge Cups are open to AVC-affiliated National Federations that have fulfilled their obligations and financial responsibilities with regard to the FIVB and AVC, Asia’s four powerhouses, China, Japan, Thailand and Korea, have already been through to the 2025 Volleyball Nations League and as a result, they could not submit their national entries for the Philippines-hosted tournament.
Meanwhile, the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Men in Isa Town, Bahrain between June 2 and 9 sees 12 teams in total strut their stuff in the topflight 8-day competition to vie for top honor and the lone ticket for the 2024 FIVB Men’s Challenger Cup.
According to the results of drawing of lots on Friday, teams were split into four pools of three teams apiece to compete in the pool round-robin preliminaries from June 2 to 4. Hosts Bahrain, which picked up silver at the previous edition in Chinese Taipei last year, are in Pool A together with Philippines and world No. 31 China, which claimed silver at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
Pool B consists of defending champions Thailand, Kazakhstan and Pakistan, with Pool C becoming the Group of Death which features world No.28 Korea, Indonesia, defending and consecutive three-time South East Asian (SEA) Games champions, and world No.21 Qatar, which finished second at the last year’s Doha-hosted FIVB Men’s Challenger Cup. Pool D comprises Vietnam, Australia and Chinese Taipei.
Thai players run in a circle to celebrate their victory at the previous edition
Similar to the women’s edition, world No. 4 and Asian champions Japan, which clinched historic bronze medal at the 2023 VNL, and world No.15 Iran have already been in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League and, therefore, could not take part in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup in Bahrain.
On June 2, the first day of the tournament, Philippines will challenge China, with Pakistan taking on Kazakhstan, Korea meeting Indonesia and Australia playing Chinese Taipei.
At the end of the online drawing of lots on Friday, Mr Shanrit, himself former chairman of AVC Sports Events Council and member of the FIVB Sports Events Council, informed the two host federations, PNVF and BVA, that the draft of match schedule for the aforementioned two tournaments should be sent to AVC and FIVB within 10 days after the team draw ceremony for final approval.
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