Indonesia's Target At AVC Challenge Cup 2024 Misses

The Indonesian Men's Volleyball Team at the AVC Challenge Cup 2024 (doc. PBVSI).

JAKARTA The target of the Indonesian Men's Volleyball National Team at the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup missed after finishing third in the group standings.

"Finishing as the caretaker of the group standings must be felt by Indonesia after losing 0-3 (17-25, 15-25, 17-25) in the last match of Group C against Qatar in Isa town, Bahrain, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, evening WIB".

The manager of the Indonesian national team, Loudry Maspaitella, said that Indonesia's performance had actually improved even though it had lost. The reason is, players don't have stage tensions anymore like when they fought South Korea.

"The game was pretty good to keep up with Qatar on the pitch. The kids no longer have stage tensions, unlike South Korea's opponents in the first match," said Loudry Maspaitella.

This is the second defeat for Indonesia from the two group matches in the event. Previously in the inaugural match against South Korea, Indonesia also lost with the same score 0-3.

These two group results automatically made Indonesia not get points at all. They are behind South Korea in first place with five points and Qatar in second place with four points.

The position in the group made Indonesia fail to advance to the playoffs. However, Indonesia will still play a match against the Philippines for the place of 9-12.

The match against the Philippines will take place on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. If you win, Indonesia will advance to the ninth place. If you lose, you will fight for 11th place.

The ranking above is clearly out of the target given by the All-Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI).

When releasing the player to Bahrain on Thursday, May 30, 2024, the national volleyball parent targeted the team to break the sixth rank.

PBVSI could not send the best team to this event but only young players. The squad departed without names, such as Rivan Nurmulki, Farhan Halim, and Fahri Septian.

Some players are part of the U-20 team that are prepared to appear at the U-20 Asian Championships in Surabaya, July 2024.

The majority of them are members of the squad from the Jakarta Garuda Jaya team who play in the 2024 Proliga. The AVC Challenge Cup 2024 tournament is used as preparation for the U-20 Asian Championships.

"We hope that the U-20 team can contribute more because these children are prepared for the U-20 Asian Championship in July 2024 in Surabaya," said Loudry.

The 2024 AVC Challenge Cup squad had to be filled by young players because the senior players were not released by their club who were being contestants for the 2024 Proliga.