ISLAMABAD: Pakistan defeated India in a five-set thriller in the Asian Volleyball Championship match at the Azadi Sports Stadium in Tehran (Iran) on Saturday.
The match, that was played for the seventh and eight position, Pakistan won 25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 15-6 to leave India ending up at No 8. As many as 16 teams qualified for the Asian Volleyball Championship.
By ending up amongst the top eight teams, Pakistan have also qualified to play the Olympic qualifying round to be held in China in January 2020.
Pakistan lost against Australia with narrow margin to fail to enter the semi-finals. Australia will take on Iran in the final.
In a match against India, Pakistan initially played according to the plan and won opening two sets with ease. In the 3rd and 4th set, service reception was not up to the mark which helped India level the score at 2-2.
However, the 5th set was won convincingly by Pakistan with a point score of 15-6 to take the match.
Aimal Khan and Mubashar Raza played outstanding volleyball. Aimal was ferocious in attack and Mubashar received and defended well. Mubashar also attacked quite well in patches. Mubashar won some important points for the team at crucial stage.
This is despite the fact that he was suffering from back injury problem and could not play Friday’s match against China that Pakistan lost 1-3.
Aimal played outstandingly throughout the championship and many countries have contacted him to play in their professional league. He is being offered Rs8 million for a league of three months.
It may be pointed out that a number of Pakistani players like Murad, Mubashar and Wasim already playing leagues in different countries.