Participating in the 5th edition of the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship for under-21s (U21), the Lebanese beach volleyball team has qualified for the quarter-finals of the tournament taking place in Bangkok, Thailand. The competition is organized by the Thai Volleyball Federation, under the supervision of the Asian Volleyball Federation. It began on Thursday, July 13 and will end on Sunday, July 16.
In the group stage matches, the Lebanese team, led by national coach William Asmar and comprising players Omar Abi Karam and Hadi Chbeib, won a precious victory over the Japanese team by two sets to one. The win, achieved at 5 a.m. Beirut time on Friday, led the Lebanese team to the 2nd place in their group, qualifying them for the Round of 16.
Five hours later, at ten o’clock in the morning Beirut time, the Lebanese team competed in the Round of 16, winning a second match by two sets to nil, this time against the Malaysian team. As a result, Lebanon has qualified for the quarter-finals, where it will meet Kazakhstan. Should Lebanon win their quarter-final, they will advance to the semi-finals, thus guaranteeing their qualification for next year’s World Championship.
The top five teams in this Asian tournament automatically qualify for the 2024 World Championship finals. Teams ranked 6th to 9th will take part in an intercontinental qualifying tournament (20 nations in total). The top four teams from these intercontinental qualifiers will qualify for next year’s World Championship.
Twenty-seven Asian nations are competing in the Asian Under-21 Championship: Thailand, China, Australia, Kazakhstan, Oman, Iran, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia and, of course, Lebanon.
