Sri Lanka finished 9th after Bangladesh withdrew from the 9th place playoff in the SMM 11th Asian Boys’ U19 Volleyball Championship in Nay-Pyi-Taw, Myanmar.
Sri Lanka beats Hong Kong; keeps 9th place hopes alive
Sri Lanka after missing out on a top eight finish defeated Hong Kong 3 sets to 1 in the 9-11th place playoffs of the SMM 11th Asian Boys’ U19 Volleyball championship in Nay-Pyi-Taw, Myanmar.
Bangladesh defeated Hong Kong 25-10, 18-25, 16-25, 25-23 & 15-11 the previous day and it was supposed to be Sri Lanka v Bangladesh for the 9th place match. However Bangladesh withdrew from the match at the last moment to give Sri Lanka a 3-0 win and with it the 9th place finish.
Sri Lanka will be disappointed with the 9th place finish after finishing 5th in the 2014 Championship which was held in Sri Lanka. They lost to Thailand 25-10, 25-15 & 25-23 and Japan 25-14, 25-21 & 25-17 in the group stage which eliminated them from a top eight place.
Japan defeated Chinese Taipei 25-19, 25-20 & 25-14 in the 1st quarter final while Korea defeated hosts Myanmar 25-11, 25-14 & 25-12 in another quarter final clash. In the final two quarter final encounters Iran beat Thailand 25-16, 25-19 & 25-19 and China beat Australia 25-19, 25-22 & 25-21.
On April 4th Japan will meet China in one semi-final while Korea, who defeated Iran in the group stage, will renew the rivalry with the defending 6 time champions in the 2nd semi-final.
