Sri Lanka host Uzbekistan in Asian Volleyball qualifier tomorrow

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By Susil Premalal   

The Central Asian region qualifying match between Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan for the 21st Senior Men’s Asian Volleyball Championship to be held in Japan from September 12 to 19 will be held tomorrow (14) at 3:00 p.m. at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo.   

According to a decision taken by the Asian Continental Volleyball Federation in 2017, there are 16 teams that can participate in the Asian Senior Tournament. Accordingly, the teams that won the first ten places in the previous year’s tournament, the host country and one of the five volleyball zones active in the Asian Volleyball Federation will be included in the final group of 16. With more than one team from each region applying outside the above group, Sri Lanka will host the match against Uzbekistan with the winners qualifying the winners for the Asian Round.   

Launched in 1975 for the first time, the Asian Volleyball Championship is held every two years, with Sri Lanka participating 12 times and Uzbekistan participating four times. Sri Lanka first participated in the tournament in 1989 and the best result Sri Lanka achieved was finishing eighth at the 16th Asian Championships in Iran in 2011 and qualifying for the Super League for the first time. Sri Lanka finished 14th at the last Asian Championship in 2019.   
Uzbekistan first competed in the tournament in 1997, followed by 16th place in 2005, 2011 and 2013.   
Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan have met only twice at the Asian Championships. That was at the 2011 and 2013 Asian Volleyball Championships. In both cases, Sri Lanka defeated Uzbekistan 3/0.   

Sri Lanka also met Uzbekistan twice in the third Asian Under-23 Men’s Volleyball Championship in 2019, where they defeated Uzbekistan 3/0 in the first round. Uzbekistan beat Sri Lanka 3/2 in the fifth and tenth place matches of the series.   

According to the International Volleyball Federation rankings, Sri Lanka is currently ranked 53rd and Uzbekistan 136th. Accordingly, Sri Lanka is ranked 10th and Uzbekistan is ranked 24th out of 65 countries in the Asian region. 
Uzbekistan lost to Kyrgyzstan in the final of the 2019 Central Asian Second Division (Category 2) Men’s Volleyball Championship in Nepal and became runners-up.   

 Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan have met only twice at the Asian Championships. That was at the 2011 and 2013 Asian Volleyball Championships. In both cases, Sri Lanka defeated Uzbekistan 3/0

Sri Lanka will have the upper hand in this match against Uzbekistan. However, the fact that Sri Lanka has not met Uzbekistan in an international match since 2013 and the fact that Uzbekistan defeated Bangladesh and the 2018 winners, Turkmenistan, in the Central Asian Championship in 2019 are the main points of concern for the Sri Lankan team.   

Fans are confident that Sri Lanka will be able to beat Uzbekistan in this tournament under the leadership of Janitha Surath, who has a combination of experienced senior players and young players who excelled in the last 
national tournament.