# 2018 Asian Men's Volleyball Cup

The 2018 Asian Men's Volleyball Cup, so-called 2018 AVC Cup for Men was the sixth edition of the Asian Men's Volleyball Cup, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with Chinese Taipei Volleyball Association (CTVA). The tournament was held at University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Taiwan (referred to as Chinese Taipei by the AVC) from 8 to 15 August 2018.
As hosts, Chinese Taipei automatically participated for the tournament, while the remaining 8 teams, qualified from the 2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship in Gresik, Indonesia.

## Qualification

The 10 AVC member associations qualified for the 2018 Asian Cup. Chinese Taipei qualified as hosts and the 9 remaining teams qualified from the 2017 Asian Championship. But, China later withdrew. The 9 AVC member associations were from five zonal associations, including, Central Asia (2 teams), East Asia (3 teams), Oceania (1 team), Southeast Asia (2 teams) and West Asia (1 team).

### Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.
| Means of qualification | Berths | Qualified |
| Host Country | 1 | Chinese Taipei |
| Central Asian teams | 2 | Iran |
| Central Asian teams | 2 | Kazakhstan |
| East Asian teams | 2 | China |
| East Asian teams | 2 | Japan |
| East Asian teams | 2 | South Korea |
| Oceanian team | 1 | Australia |
| Southeast Asian teams | 2 | Thailand |
| Southeast Asian teams | 2 | Vietnam |
| West Asian team | 1 | Qatar |
| Total 9 |||

## Pools composition

This was the first Asian Cup which used the new competition format. Following the 2017 AVC Board of Administration’s unanimous decision, the new format saw teams were drawn into three pools up to the total amount of the participating teams. Each team as well as the hosts was assigned into a pool according to their final standing of the 2017 Asian Championship. As the three best ranked teams were drawn in the same pool A, the next best three contested pool B, the next best three contested pool C. Final standing of the 2017 Asian Championship are shown in brackets.
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C |
| Japan (1)  Kazakhstan (2)  South Korea (3) | Iran (5)  Chinese Taipei (Hosts, 7)  Australia (8) | Qatar (9)  Vietnam (10)  Thailand (11) |

## Venue

All matches :
* Taipei, Taiwan
* University of Taipei Gymnasium
* Capacity: 4,500

## Pool standing procedure

* Number of matches won
* Match points
* Sets ratio
* Points ratio
* If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority will be given to the team which won the last match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2 and 3 will be made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

## Preliminary round

* All times are National Standard Time (UTC+08:00).

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Kazakhstan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 6.000 | 176 | 152 | 1.158 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | South Korea | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.600 | 181 | 189 | 0.958 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Japan | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0.500 | 192 | 208 | 0.923 | Quarterfinals |
| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 8 Aug | 13:00 | Japan | 2–3 | South Korea | 25–20 | 19–25 | 23–25 | 25–23 | 17–19 | 109–112 | P2 |
| 9 Aug | 13:30 | Kazakhstan | 3–1 | Japan | 25–22 | 25–23 | 21–25 | 25–13 | | 96–83 | P2 |
| 10 Aug | 16:10 | South Korea | 0–3 | Kazakhstan | 22–25 | 19–25 | 28–30 | | | 69–80 | P2 |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Iran | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3.000 | 182 | 175 | 1.040 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Chinese Taipei | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1.333 | 167 | 132 | 1.265 | Playoff |
| 3 | Australia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0.167 | 126 | 168 | 0.750 | Quarterfinals |
| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Total | Report |
| 8 Aug | 19:20 | Iran | 3–1 | Chinese Taipei | 25–23 | 14–25 | 25–21 | 25–23 | 89–92 | P2 |
| 9 Aug | 18:30 | Australia | 1–3 | Iran | 20–25 | 22–25 | 25–18 | 16–25 | 83–93 | P2 |
| 10 Aug | 18:30 | Chinese Taipei | 3–0 | Australia | 25–17 | 25–14 | 25–12 | | 75–43 | P2 |

### Pool C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Qatar | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | MAX | 150 | 124 | 1.210 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Thailand | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.600 | 172 | 178 | 0.966 | Playoff |
| 3 | Vietnam | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0.333 | 165 | 185 | 0.892 | Quarterfinals |
| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 8 Aug | 15:50 | Qatar | 3–0 | Vietnam | 25–20 | 25–19 | 25–23 | | | 75–62 | P2 |
| 9 Aug | 16:00 | Thailand | 0–3 | Qatar | 23–25 | 23–25 | 16–25 | | | 62–75 | P2 |
| 10 Aug | 13:30 | Vietnam | 2–3 | Thailand | 24–26 | 27–25 | 25–19 | 16–25 | 11–15 | 103–110 | P2 |

## Final round

* All times are National Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
| Playoff | Playoff | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| | | 11 August | 11 August | | | | |
| | | South Korea | 0 | | | |
| | | Qatar | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | 14 August | 14 August | |
| | | | | | Qatar | 3 |
| | | | | | Japan | 1 |
| | | 11 August | 11 August | | | | |
| | | Japan | 3 | | | |
| | | Australia | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 15 August | 15 August |
| | | | | | | | Qatar | 3 |
| | | | | | | | Iran | 2 |
| | | 13 August | 13 August | | | | | |
| | | Kazakhstan | 1 | | | | | |
| 11 August | 11 August | | Kazakhstan | 1 | | | | |
| 11 August | 11 August | Chinese Taipei | 3 | | | | | |
| Chinese Taipei | 3 | Chinese Taipei | 3 | | | | | |
| Chinese Taipei | 3 | | | | 14 August | 14 August | | |
| Thailand | 2 | | | | 14 August | 14 August | | |
| Thailand | 2 | | | | Chinese Taipei | 0 | | |
| | | | | | Iran | 3 | 3rd place match | 3rd place match |
| | | 11 August | 11 August | | | | 15 August | 15 August |
| | | Iran | 3 | | | | Japan | 3 |
| | | Vietnam | 0 | | | | Chinese Taipei | 2 |
| 5th–9th quarterfinals | 5th–9th quarterfinals | 5th–8th semifinals | 5th–8th semifinals | 5th place match | 5th place match |
| | | Australia | 3 | | |
| | | Kazakhstan | 1 | | |
| South Korea | 3 | Kazakhstan | 1 | Australia | 2 |
| Australia | 0 | | | Thailand | 3 |
| Australia | 0 | Thailand | 3 | Thailand | 3 |
| | | South Korea | 1 | | |
| Vietnam | 2 | South Korea | 1 | 7th place match | 7th place match |
| Thailand | 3 | | | | |
| | | | | Kazakhstan | 3 |
| | | | | South Korea | 1 |

### Playoff

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 11 Aug | 18:30 | Chinese Taipei | 3–2 | Thailand | 23–25 | 25–14 | 23–25 | 25–14 | 15–12 | 111–90 | P2 |

### 5th–9th quarterfinals

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 13 Aug | 13:30 | South Korea | 3–0 | Australia | 25–23 | 26–24 | 25–19 | | | 76–66 | P2 |
| 13 Aug | 16:00 | Vietnam | 2–3 | Thailand | 18–25 | 25–18 | 20–25 | 39–37 | 10–15 | 112–120 | P2 |

### Quarterfinals

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Total | Report |
| 11 Aug | 11:00 | Iran | 3–0 | Vietnam | 25–19 | 25–14 | 25–19 | | 75–52 | P2 |
| 11 Aug | 13:30 | Japan | 3–1 | Australia | 25–21 | 25–17 | 21–25 | 25–15 | 96–78 | P2 |
| 11 Aug | 16:00 | South Korea | 0–3 | Qatar | 19–25 | 14–25 | 22–25 | | 55–75 | P2 |
| 13 Aug | 18:45 | Kazakhstan | 1–3 | Chinese Taipei | 25–23 | 20–25 | 20–25 | 21–25 | 86–98 | P2 |

### 5th–8th semifinals

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 14 Aug | 11:00 | Australia | 3–1 | Kazakhstan | 25–19 | 25–18 | 23–25 | 25–16 | | 98–78 | P2 |
| 14 Aug | 13:30 | Thailand | 3–1 | South Korea | 25–23 | 27–25 | 21–25 | 25–16 | | 98–89 | P2 |

### Semifinals

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 14 Aug | 16:00 | Qatar | 3–1 | Japan | 25–21 | 22–25 | 25–19 | 25–16 | | 97–81 | P2 |
| 14 Aug | 18:30 | Chinese Taipei | 0–3 | Iran | 19–25 | 20–25 | 23–25 | | | 62–75 | P2 |

### 7th place match

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 15 Aug | 11:00 | Kazakhstan | 3–1 | South Korea | 25–21 | 25–23 | 14–25 | 25–19 | | 89–88 | P2 |

### 5th place match

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 15 Aug | 13:30 | Australia | 2–3 | Thailand | 25–21 | 27–25 | 16–25 | 17–25 | 5–15 | 90–111 | P2 |

### 3rd place match

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 15 Aug | 16:10 | Japan | 3–2 | Chinese Taipei | 21–25 | 20–25 | 32–30 | 29–27 | 17–15 | 119–122 | P2 |

### Final

| Date | Time | | Score | | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report |
| 15 Aug | 19:15 | Qatar | 3–2 | Iran | 23–25 | 21–25 | 25–22 | 25–18 | 15–10 | 109–100 | P2 |

## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | Qatar |
| | Iran |
| | Japan |
| 4 | Chinese Taipei |
| 5 | Thailand |
| 6 | Australia |
| 7 | Kazakhstan |
| 8 | South Korea |
| 9 | Vietnam |
* 2018 Asian Men's Cup champions
* Qatar 1st title
* 14–man roster
* Ibrahim (c), M. Essam, Renan, Sultan, Sulaiman, Belal, Miloš, Ababacar, Nikola, Mubarak, Osman, Ali, Ahmed G., Khaled
* Head coach
* Soto

## Awards

* Most valuable player
    Mohamed Ibrahim
* Best setter
    Javad Karimi
* Best outside spikers
    Renan Ribeiro
    Liu Hung-min
* Best middle blockers
    Mohamed Ibrahim
    Rahman Taghizadeh
* Best opposite spiker
    Mubarak Hammad
* Best libero
    Tomohiro Ogawa