Asian Games volleyball: Iran improves to 4-0, Pakistan and India earn victories
The preliminary round of the 2010 Asian Games volleyball tournament continued on Tuesday with six games on the men’s side. The women will begin their preliminary round on 18 November.
Pakistan vs Taiwan Group A
The only Group A match of the day was between Pakistan and Taiwan. Pakistan won 3-2 (25-18 21-25 18-25 25-22 15-12) to earn their first win of the Games. They are now 1-2 while Taiwan dropped to 0-3.
Leading Pakistan in scoring was Naseer Ahmed with 31 points. Chia Jui Tai led Taiwan with 26.
Pakistan took the first set, but then lost two straight to Taiwan. The fourth set was close with a desperate Pakistan squad winning it 25-22 to force an extra set.
Aamir Sharif came into the match in the fourth set to give Pakistan some fresh legs, and the moved worked out as Sharif ended the match with eight rebounds and one kill block. Pakistan won the final set
15-12.
Pakistan clinched third place in Group A with the win while Taiwan finished the round in last place.
India vs Vietnam Group B
In Group B action, India improved to 2-1 with a 3-0 (25-20 25-16 25-23) victory over Vietnam, who saw their record fall to 0-3.
Sanjay Banwari and Naveen Manidurai led India with 13 points each, and Pradeep Guttikonda was not far behind with 12 points. Vietnam’s top scorer was Van Kieu Ngo, who had 16 points.
Vietnam pressed in the third set after losing the first two to India, but India proved too strong in for them as they won the third and final set 25-23.
Iran will finish second in Group B. They could end up with the same record as Korea if Korea loses to Kazakhstan on Wednesday, but Korea holds a significant advantage in the points ratio tie-breaker, and
has yet to lose a set in the tournament.
Iran vs Indonesia Group C
Iran became the first team in the tournament to win four games and has a record of 4-0. They won 3-0 (25-15 25-23 25-23) over Indonesia, who saw their record fall to 1-2.
Four players on Iran scored in the double digits with Seyed Mousavi and Hamzeh Zarini leading the way with 12 points each. Ramzil Huda led Indonesia with 11 points.
Despite losing by 10 points in the first set, Indonesia played well against Iran, keeping the second and third sets close. They lost both sets by identical 25-23 scores.
Iran clinched first place in Group C with the win while Indonesia finished in fourth place.
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