On May 16, Beijing time, on the second match day of the 2024 World Women's Volleyball League, with the Thai women's volleyball team losing 1-3 to the Olympic champion United States women's volleyball team, all four Asian teams completed their debuts, achieving 2 wins and 2 losses. The Chinese women's volleyball team and the Japanese women's volleyball team won their debuts, and the Japanese women's volleyball team also created the first super upset of this competition, that is, Japan's 3-2 defeat of the defending champion Turkish women's volleyball team, which was a big surprise.
This World Women's Volleyball League is of great significance, because it is linked to the qualification for the Paris Olympics, and many strong teams must go all out in the World Women's Volleyball League if they want to fight for Olympic quotas through the world rankings. Judging from the current rankings, the Chinese women's volleyball team and the Japanese women's volleyball team have an advantage, and the Thai women's volleyball team and the South Korean women's volleyball team have almost zero hope of participating in the Paris Olympics. In the first two match days, four Asian teams made their debuts, and the results confirmed this.
In the Asian derby, the Chinese women's volleyball team swept the South Korean women's volleyball team 3-0, and now the South Korean women's volleyball team has become a fish belly team, and it is difficult to find a win in the World Women's Volleyball League. Subsequently, the Japanese women's volleyball team challenged the world's No. 1 Turkish women's volleyball team, which played 5 games, although Japan led 2-0 and was dragged into the deciding game by the Turkish women's volleyball team, but the Japanese team united and won 15-11 in the deciding game, defeating the Turkish women's volleyball team with a big score of 3-2, creating the first super upset in this World Women's Volleyball League.
The Thai women's volleyball team then appeared on the court, against the Olympic champion United States women's volleyball team, the gap in strength between the two sides is also very large, and the Thai women's volleyball team has also carried out a change of coach, personnel adjustment, etc., and is currently in a period of reconstruction. On the side of the U.S. women's volleyball team, Larsson, the main attacker, returned to the national team during the critical period of Olympic preparations.
Facing the Thai women's volleyball team, the U.S. women's volleyball team won the first game 25-22, but there were too many mistakes in the second game, and the Thai women's volleyball team fought back strongly, played a very high level, and even pulled back a game 25-19. However, the U.S. women's volleyball team adjusted in time, and always took the initiative in the next two games, winning the third and fourth games 25-12 and 25-18 respectively, defeating the Thai women's volleyball team 3-1 and getting off to a good start.
In this way, all Asian teams made their debuts, with a total score of 2 wins and 2 losses, China and Japan won, and the Japanese women's volleyball team increased by 9.9 points to the eighth place in the world, which is currently about 15 points less than the Chinese women's volleyball team. It was indeed not easy for the Thai women's volleyball team to win a game from the United States, but it was not enough for Thailand to score points and improve its ranking, and the Thai women's volleyball team was still ranked 13th. As for the South Korean women's volleyball team, which is currently ranked 41st, the gap is indeed very large.
Next, the Chinese women's volleyball team played against the United States women's volleyball team, the Japanese women's volleyball team faced Bulgaria, South Korea challenged the Brazilian women's volleyball team, and Thailand faced Serbia.