Vietnamese women's volleyball team makes great progress in the world rankings

From being unranked, Vietnam rose to 49th in the world women's volleyball rankings, after winning the 2023 AVC Challenge Cup.

Vietnam women's volleyball champion AVC Challenge Cup 2023. Photo: AVC

In September 2022, Vietnam was removed from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) rankings for not participating in continental or higher tournaments for a long time. On May 22, 2023, FIVB decided to add 50 points to the teams participating in the AVC Challenge Cup. Together with the 12 points before being removed from the rankings, Vietnam has a total of 62 points.

In Indonesia, Vietnam won the AVC Challenge Cup with a total of six wins, including five 3-0 victories. This achievement helped the team gain 12.28 points to climb to 49th in the world, 4.81 points behind Costa Rica, who is ranked second.

Vietnam also rose to sixth place in the Asian women's volleyball rankings, behind China (5th in the world, with 344.52 points), Japan (7th - 314.92), Thailand (15th - 193.42), South Korea (33rd - 117.87) and Kazakhstan (46th - 86.03).

Vietnamese volleyball is gradually reintegrating into the continental arena after a long absence. According to coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet, athletes will have many opportunities to compete with strong and diverse opponents to improve their skills and mentality.

Striker Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (left) is the biggest star of Vietnamese women's volleyball at the moment. Photo: AVC

In the final of the AVC Challenge Cup 2023, Vietnam was rated higher, but was mentally unprepared when facing pressure from the crowded stands of the host country, Indonesia, and made many mistakes. After about two hours of competition, Vietnam came from behind to beat Indonesia 3-2 to win an Asian tournament for the national team for the first time.

The championship helps Vietnam earn a ticket to the FIVB Challenger Cup 2023 held in France from July 27 to July 30. The champion team of this tournament will gain the right to participate in the Volleyball Nations League - the most prestigious tournament for national teams.

Before winning the AVC Challenge Cup, the Vietnamese women's team also won the 2023 Asian Club Volleyball Championship in May under the name Sport Center I.

Vnexpress.net