INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Perennial champions Japan will return to defend their crown when the campaign will be held at Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium in
U19 World Championship, with 11 teams in total vying for top honor and four berths up for grabs for the biennial world meet as AVC
representatives.Earlier, this tournament was due to be hosted by Uzbekistan, but due to some unforeseen reasons, Nakhon Pathom has replaced
cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, asianvolleyball.net reported.The 11 participating teams comprise hosts Thailand, Korea, Iran,
Australia and Uzbekistan in Pool A and Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, India and Philippines in Pool B.Iran will begin the
tournament on June 6 with a match against Australia.All participating teams have been split into Pool A and Pool B
Teams will compete in pool round-robin preliminaries, with top two teams in each pool advancing to the cross semifinals
5th and 6th in each pool will fight for 9th, 10th and 11th places.The championship had already been held for 12 times, but only two
countries have captured the titles in this age-group championship
Japan emerged as the strongest team to clinch eight titles including seven in succession, while China had won the remaining four editions.
