BGVC suffer shock defeat to Japan to lose their Asian Club crown
Reigning champions Bangkok Glass, powered by superstar spiker Pleumjit Thinkaow and hard-hitting Wilavan Apinyapong and Jutarat Montripila, lost their crown on Saturday when they went down 2-3 to unbeaten NEC Red Rockets from Japan in the semi-finals of t
The disappointing 25-22 19-25 25-21 20-25 7-15 loss in the hard-fought five-set thriller allowed Bangkok Glass no more chance to repeat the feat they achieved last year in Ha Nam, Vietnam, where they stunned the 2015 title-holders Hisamitsu Springs of Japan in five sets in the showdown to become the first-ever club from Thailand to win the Asian Club title.
NEC Red Rockets of Japan will now take on Ba’Yi Shenzheng of China in a final showdown of two unbeaten teams. Bangkok Glass will play Altay VC of Kazakhstan, which went down to the Chinese team 1-3 (20-25 25-12 12-25 23-25) in the other semi-final clash, in the third-place playoff on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the 5th-8th playoffs saw Vietnam’s Lienviet Post Bank outclass Taiwan’s T.Grand 3-0 (25-14 25-15 25-14) and Sarmayeh Bank of Iran beat hosts Foton Pilipinas 3-1 (25-18 25-21 12-25 25-22).
On Sunday, the final day of the top-flight competition, China’s Ba’Yi Shenzheng take on NEC Red Rockets in the final showdown, while Kazakhstan’s Altay VC play Bangkok Glass in the third-place playoff.
Post Bank face Sarmayeh Bank in the 5th-place playoff, while Foton Pilipinnas and T.Grand battle it out for the seventh place.
The eventual winners of this tournament will represent Asia in the next year’s FIVB Women’s Club Volleyball World Championship.
