'Defeating Korea, then Japan, then China' in order: Thailand claims back-to-back Asian Championship titles and secures historic direct qualification to the Olympics... Overcoming '188cm Chinese' team with its strongest organizational power

*This content was translated by AI.

The Thai Yeo Ja-bae-gu (CEO) team claimed the Asian title on foreign soil, achieving a historic breakthrough by securing direct qualification to the Olympic Games for the first time in their history.

On the 30th, Thailand defeated host nation China with a set score of 3-2 (25-20, 11-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-10) in the final of the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women's Championship held at the Tianjin Olympic Center Gymnasium.

Having achieved back-to-back tournament titles (their fourth overall championship), Thailand secured the sole direct ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics allocated for Asia.

Ranked 17th in the world by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) before the tournament, Thailand successively defeated three East Asian nations: South Korea (28th) in the quarterfinals, Japan (6th) in the semifinals, and China (7th) in the final.

Notably, China's average height of 188.5cm was more than 10cm taller than Thailand's 178.3cm. However, even when facing defeat with a set score deficit of 1-2, Thailand secured a dramatic comeback victory by leveraging its tight organizational cohesion and concentrated defensive efforts.

Sasipaporn Janta-wisut led the attack with a team-high 28 points, while captain and starting setter Phonsapa Chaiwan was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP).

The Thai government decided to award the Gi Nyeom-hae (CEO) team a bonus of approximately 500 million won in recognition of their historic first-ever Olympic qualification.

The reason this Asian Championship was particularly fierce lies in the allocation method for LA Olympic berths. The 12 teams participating in the LA Olympics will divide the 11th available spots (excluding host nation USA) through three methods. First, as seen in this tournament, the champions of each of the five continental championships secure one spot each, totaling five tickets. Subsequently, the top three teams from the 2027 FIVB World Cup and the top three teams based on the FIVB world rankings as of June next year will fill the remaining spots.

China, which finished second after losing in the final, and Japan, which defeated Iran in the third-place match to take third place, missed out on the direct continental Olympic tickets but secured berths for the 2027 FIVB World Cup, keeping their hopes of Olympic qualification alive.

In contrast, the South Korean national team, led by coach Cha Sang-hyun, suffered a complete 0-3 defeat against Thailand in the quarterfinals, missing all opportunities. Having failed to secure a World Cup berth reserved for the top three teams, they must now aim for the remaining tickets allocated based on world rankings; however, considering their current ranking of 28th, South Korea's chances of directly qualifying for the LA Olympics have become virtually slim.

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*This content was translated by AI.