Five LOVB Madison athletes are representing their home countries in Thailand, competing in the 20th edition of the prestigious international FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship tournament.
Teammates Andrea Mitrovic, Xiangyu Gong, Anna Pogany, Anna Haak and Argentina Ung traveled from Madison to Thailand’s first edition of the tournament, with events held in Bangkok, Chain Mao, Phuket and Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand’s four major cities.
The athletes come from the LOVB Madison-League One Volleyball, the largest community of youth volleyball clubs that launched its pro league in January 2025.
The FIVB Women’s World Championship takes place every two years, this year lasting from Aug. 22- Sept. 7, the first year of a new format allowing 32 national teams to participate.
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Teams were split into eight pools of four and faced three opponents during pool play. This six-day pool phase played three round robin matches, with as many as 48 matches between the five days of the pool play, with the initial round lasting from Aug. 22-27.
The top two teams from each pool advanced to the next round of 16, with the competition moving entirely to Bangkok. The second round lasted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.
The quarter finals were held on Sept. 3 and 4 with Netherlands facing Japan, Italy against Poland, Brazil facing France and USA vs. Türkiye.
Japan faced Türkiye and Italy faced Brazil in the semi-final round on Sept. 6.
Haak, LOVB Madison team captain, represented her home country Sweden, one of 15 national teams that qualified for the championship via the FIVB world ranking.
Gong of LOVB Madison is team captain of the Chinese national team. The team came into the tournament as champions of the 2023 Asian Championship, which earned them an automatic spot in the FIVB tournament.
Canada’s Mitrovic represented Madison on the Canadian team as an outside hitter.
Another of Madison’s own, Pogany, represented Germany’s national team as a libero. Germany was one of the teams that qualified through FIVB Volleyball World Ranking and is currently 11th in the world.
The tournament final took place on Sept. 7 in Bangkok, with Italy overcoming Türkiye in a five-set thriller.