Pakistan bounce back to beat Hong Kong

KARACHI: Pakistan came from behind to beat Hong Kong 3-2 in their first outing of the classification round of the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship in Surabaya, Indonesia, on Thursday.

Led by the country’s highly experienced pro spiker Naseer Ahmed, Pakistan lost the first two sets, but made some useful changes and were able to win the next three sets on the trot to seal a fine win in the end. The set scores were 21-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21 and 15-9.

Pakistan’s key player Aimal Khan did not feature in the game due to illness, Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) said.“Initially Fahad, a young player, played and then Pakistan team’s captain Naseer replaced him and made the team win with his experience. Naseer played outstanding game. He was fully supported by Asif who served very well,” PVF said.

Pakistan will face Thailand on Saturday (tomorrow).

Pakistan had ended third in their group in the preliminaries. After losing to Chinese Taipei and Iran, Pakistan had sealed a 3-1 win over Iraq.

In the previous edition, Pakistan finished tenth overall.

Coach Hamid Movahedi is handling the side in Indonesia. The team also has the support of an Iranian analyst who also served the team in Islamic Games in Baku and in the World Championship qualifiers in Kyrgyzstan.