Thursday’s China-Germany game in the Volleyball Nations League at the Araneta Coliseum was cancelled after the Germans refused to play the Chinese, who were already cleared by local authorities after testing positive for COVID-19 a week ago.
In a statement, the organizing Philippine National Volleyball Federation Inc. said that in accordance with VNL 2022 Competition Regulations, Germany automatically forfeits the match, giving China a 3-0 win.
Majority of China’s players tested for COVID-19 but have already undergone quarantine and cleared to play.
Meanwhile, world No. 3 France scored a 25-14, 25-23, 25-13 victory over the Netherlands Thursday in the Volleyball Nations League at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Stephen Boyer led the French with 15 points, including four service aces, while Barthelemy Chinenyeze added 12 points, including the set-clinching kill that gave the Tokyo Olympics gold medalists a 2-0 set lead.
Trevor Clevenot fired two service aces to finish with 11 points while Nicolas Le Goff imposed his will in the middle with six points for a 10-point outing for France.
The Dutch were in control in the second set before the French rallied and reached set point at 24-21. The Netherlands saved two set points before Chinenyeze nailed the clincher with a quick hit.
“In the second set, we just found a way to comeback and win the set,” said Boyer.
Counting last Tuesday’s forfeit win against China, France improved to 5-1 in the standings.
“It’s always good to win. We played good volleyball,” said Boyer.
The Tokyo Games MVP, Ngapeth was scintillating in every skill set he had—even in orchestrating plays—on his sleeves in first match in the country.
“I received a lot of message from Filipino people. It’s so cool to be here to play volleyball here,” said Ngapeth, who had eight points, five receptions and four digs. “I hope we will make two good games for the fans. This is for the fans here in the Philippines.”
France will play Japan Saturday and Germany in the final day on Sunday.
The Dutch suffered their third loss in six matches.
Bennie Tuinstra and captain Nimir Abdel-Aziz each had 11 points for the Netherlands. Tuinstra scored three aces.
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