S Korea outplay Pakistan in Asian U-18 Volleyball

KARACHI: Pakistan were on Tuesday defeated by strong South Korea 3-0 in a crucial game of the 12th Asian Men’s Under-18 Volleyball Championship in Porsharifi Gymnasium in Tabriz, Iran.

The set scores remained 25-12, 25-20 and 25-16. Pakistan completely failed to repeat performance of their previous matches. The win took South Korea to the semifinals and also the 2019 World Championships. The loss put Pakistan down and they will now again face New Zealand in the classification phase on Wednesday (today).

The draws, which faced severe criticism from the participating nations, show that the winners of Pakistan-New Zealand outing will then play an 11th place play-off. Pakistan coach Hamid Movahedi has also been confused by the draws. “South Korea beat Pakistan and qualified for the semifinals while we will play for the 11th to 14th place now. Nobody here can answer the queries of the teams about perflexing draws. This is for the first time that such draws have been made,” Movahedi said.

Pakistan had taken a golden start to their journey a few days ago when they had beaten New Zealand 3-0. Uzbekistan have skipped the event.Meanwhile Chinese Taipei defeated Australia 3-0 to make it to the quarterfinals.