Turkiye will make their first Olympic semifinals appearance after knocking out China in a five-set thriller.
Turkiye is on their way to the semifinals of the women’s volleyball tournament in Paris 2024 after outlasting three-time Olympic champion China in a five-set thriller, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12, at the South Paris Arena 1 on Tuesday, August 6 (Philippine time).
This marked the first time that the Turkish would advance to the tournament's semifinals in their Olympic history.
In their debut at the 2012 London Olympics, Turkiye placed 9th before coming close in Tokyo 2020 where they reached the quarterfinals before falling to South Korea, ultimately finishing in 5th place.
But this time, the world no. 3 would not be denied of history as they relied on its superstar Melissa Vargas, who fired 42 big points built on 38 attacks, two blocks, and two services.
In a rematch of the 2023 VNL final, it was China that took the opening set before Turkiye made a strong comeback to win the next two. However, the world no. 5 showed their fight in them, clinching the fourth set that lead to a decisive fifth and final set.
In the fifth frame, it was neck-and-neck between China and Turkiye as both teams did not want to give an inch against their opponents.
The final set was tightly contested, with Turkey leading 8-7 when the teams switched sides.
But in the end, Vargas proved to be just too much as she pushed Turkiye to match point before setter Elif Sahin connected on a one-two play to seal the emotional victory for her squad.
Hande Baladin was the other double-digit scorer for the Turkish with 13 points.
Li Yingying did all she could for China, scoring 25 points on 19 attacks, one block, and five service aces. Zhu Ting and Gong Xiangyu had 19 and 18 markers, respectively, in the loss.
Turkiye will await the winner between world no. 1 Italy and world no. 8 Serbia for a spot in the gold medal match.