The third Asian Women's U23 Volleyball Championship – the Dong Luc Cup - kicked off in Hanoi on July 13 (Photo: asianvolleyball.net)

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Sports Administration Tran Duc Phan, who is also head of the organising committee, said the volleyball tournament is expected to help young talents to improve their skills and bolster cooperation, friendship and solidarity among the volleyball federations.

In addition, the event is designed to help Vietnamese players to prepare for the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in the Philippines later this year, he noted.

This year, 13 teams are competing in the tournament, namely Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan, Macao, the Maldives, New Zealand, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and hosts Vietnam.

The teams will play in the round-robin format in the group stage and in the knockout format from the semi-finals.

On July 13, the DPRK won 3-1 over Thailand while Taiwan suffered a 0-3 loss to China.-VNA