The pool stage of the inaugural AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup in Manama is over and the quarterfinal match-ups are set. So, on Saturday, June 21, Australia will meet Korea, Indonesia will challenge Pakistan, Qatar will face Vietnam and Bahrain will take on Chinese Taipei, with the winners moving forward in the race for medals to Monday’s semifinals. The remaining teams – Thailand, the Philippines and New Zealand – will continue in the matches for the distribution of the places from ninth to 11^th in the final standings, which start of Friday evening. The Asian continental tournament is streamed live on VBTV.

• Watch the AVC Men's Volleyball Nations Cup on VBTV

Hosts Bahrain advanced to the quarterfinals as Pool A winners. They started their campaign with a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22) victory over Thailand with the help of an impressive team total of 18 kill blocks. In the second match of the pool, Indonesia also beat Thailand after a furious comeback from two sets down, 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-8). In Thursday’s decider for the first place in the pool, Bahrain mastered a 3-0 (25-13, 27-25, 25-22) win over Indonesia, as both sides had already secured their spots in the quarterfinals.

After Kazakhstan’s last-minute withdrawal from the tournament, Pool B remained with two teams, so both were automatically qualified for the quarterfinals. In the pool’s single match, defending champions Qatar produced a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-22) shutout of Australia to get a better starting position in the playoff bracket.

With four-set wins over the Philippines in Pool C, both Pakistan and Chinese Taipei progressed to the quarterfinals. First, last year’s AVC Challenge Cup (as the competition was named before) runners-up Pakistan claimed a 3-1 (25-18, 25-12, 28-25, 25-22) victory. Then, Chinese Taipei achieved a hard-fought 3-1 (21-19, 23-25, 30-28, 25-20) win, with opposite Chang Yu-Sheng leading the way with 24 points. A dramatic five-set saga unfolded in Thursday’s decider for the first place in the pool. Pakistan emerged as pool winners after squeezing out a narrow 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 16-25, 18-16) victory, despite Chang’s fire, which brought Chinese Taipei a fantastic 36 points (including 4 aces). With a total of 60 points, Chang topped the best scorers chart of the tournament after the pool stage, 23 points clear of the next highest scorer.

Similarly, Korea and Vietnam both shut out New Zealand – 3-0 (28-26, 25-13, 25-22) and 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-15), respectively – securing quarterfinal spots and setting up a direct head-to-head for the first place in Pool D. The Koreans swept that match as well and left Vietnam as pool runners-up with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-12) win.

The playoff phase of the AVC Nations Cup starts on Friday at 19:00 local time (16:00 UTC) with a game between Thailand and the Philippines, the first of three matches in the round-robin classification pool for the distribution of the places from ninth to 11^th. Thailand and New Zealand will meet on Sunday, while the Philippines and New Zealand will play on Tuesday.

The first quarterfinal on Saturday, featuring the teams of Australia and Korea, will serve off at 11:30 (08:30). Then, Indonesia and Pakistan will take to the court in Manama at 14:00 (11:00). Qatar and Vietnam will follow at 16:30 (13:30). The last semifinal vacancy will be filled in a game between Bahrain and Chinese Taipei at 19:00 (16:00).

AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup 2025: schedule and results

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