Mixed fortunes for Pakistan in Asian Volleyball

KARACHI: Pakistan on Saturday faced mixed fortune when they lost to Korea in their opener before beating Indonesia in their second fixture of the 20th Asian Seniors Men’s Volleyball Championship which started in Tehran.

In the first mouthwatering game, Pakistan showed its class against strong Korea but could not sustain the pressure, losing narrowly in the first two sets before dropping the third set as well to begin their journey with a 3-0 loss. The set score was 25-23, 25-23, 25-19 in favour of Koreans.

Meanwhile in their next game Pakistan did well to edge past fighting Indonesia 3-2. After winning the first two sets 25-20, 26-24, Pakistan failed to keep the pressure on their rivals and lost their next two sets 19-25, 20-25. However in the decisive set Pakistani spikers showed some superb spiking ability to win it 15-13 to seal a sensational victory. Pakistan will now face Kuwait on Sunday (today). If Pakistan beat Kuwait then both Pakistan and Korea would advance to the quarter-finals league. As many as 16 nations are set to feature in the Asian Championships in Tehran. Pakistan have been clubbed in Group D with four-time champions South Korea, last edition’s No4 side Indonesia and Kuwait which did not feature in the last edition held in Gresik, Indonesia, in 2017. Iran, Australia, Qatar and Sri Lanka form Group A, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Hong Kong are in Group B while Kazakhstan, China, Oman and India have been bracketed in Group C.