The Asian Women’s Championships started last Friday and will conclude next Sunday. The top 4 places will qualify for the 2009 World Championships in China next December. As China is host of the World Championships their performance in the tournament will not count towards the top 4 places.

The draw for the tournament resulted with a very strong Group A and a relatively weak Group B. In Group A, South Korea is the obvious favorite, and Japan and Kazakhstan will likely battle it out the other semifinal birth. In Group B, China will likely win the group and host Thailand appears to have a leg up on the 2nd place slot.

The semifinal winners will qualify for the World Championships. Additionally, as there are 4 Asian spots and China’s place won’t count, the 5th place game between the 3rd place teams in each group will be for the 4th ticket. In all likelihood that match will pit either Kazakhstan or Japan against a weak Vietnam, Qatar or India side. So if form holds, the 4 teams taking the Asian Bids for the world Championships will be South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Thailand.

11/21 (Fri)
Group A
South Korea 57 – 26 Uzbekistan (31-10 )
Kazakhstan 41 – 18 Iran (21- 5)

Group B
Thailand 34 – 23 Qatar (17- 8 )
China 42 – 12 India (21- 5)

11/22 (Sat)
Group A
Japan 47 – 14 Uzbekistan (21- 3)
Korea 32 – 29 Kazakhstan

Group B
China 38 – 14 Qatar
Vietnam 29 – 27 India

11/23 (Sun)
Group A
Japan 42 – 20 Iran (21- 8 )

Group B
Thailand 29 – 20 Vietnam

Group A Standings (Thru Sunday’s games)
1) Japan (2-0-0) 4 Pts 89 34 +55
2) South Korea (2-0-0) 4 Pts 89 55 +34
3) Kazakhstan (1-0-1) 2 Pts 70 50 +20
4) Iran (0-0-2) 0 Pts 38 83 -45
5) Uzbekistan (0-0-2) 40 104 -64

Group B Standings (Thru Sunday’s Games)
1) China (2-0-0) 4 Pts80 26 +54
2) Thailand (2-0-0) 4 Pts 63 43 +20
3) Vietnam (1-0-1) 2 Pts 49 56 -7
4) India (0-0-2) 0 Pts 39 71 -32