India down Pakistan in SAG volleyball final

KARACHI: Pakistan on Tuesday had to be content with the silver medal when they were beaten by India 3-1 in the 13th South Asian Games men’s volleyball final in Kathmandu.

Pakistan had an impressive start to the decider as they won the first set 25-20, but India showed that they were better than Pakistan, staging a superb fight-back and winning the next two sets 25-15, 25-17 to take 2-1 lead.

In the fourth set, a gruelling fight was witnessed as both sides were neck in neck and were fighting for every point. However, India held their cool and took the set 29-27 to claim the gold medal.

Pakistan Volleyball Federation’s (PVF) chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob was not happy with the result. “I think the setters could not do well,” Yaqoob told ‘The News’ after Pakistan’s disappointing loss.

Pakistan had beaten India in last year’s Asian Games and this year’s Asian Championships. “Kashif Senior, the setter, did not do well in the first set and was replaced with Hamid who made it possible to win the first set. In the second set, the coach should have started with him but he again brought in Kashif considering his experience but again he had to be changed,” Yaqoob pointed out.

“Some days are bad for one, so changes should be made accordingly,” he was quick to add. “The central block did not perform well. Pakistan have always been weak in that area. However, we are now developing young players with good height but they will need another year or two to groom fully,” the PVF chief said.

“A central blocker should be six feet and seven inches tall. Both Indian central blockers are above 6.9 feet,” he said. “The team was leading by four points in the fourth set and should have won it. Had they won that it could have put pressure on the Indians,” said Yaqoob, a former Police chief.

Meanwhile, PVF secretary Shah Naeem Zafar said that Pakistan did not get the required training. “Had we got a six-month state-sponsored training we could have easily beaten India,” Shah told this correspondent.

“It’s not easy to win at this stage without proper preparation. We did not get any foreign tour for the team and that was also a big issue,” Shah said. However, he was satisfied that even with mediocre preparation, Pakistan at least finished with a silver medal.

Pakistan had claimed bronze in the previous SAG in India in 2016 which showed the nation has shown an improvement in the sport. Pakistan previously clinched silver medals at 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2010 editions of SAG.

Pakistan won gold medals in 1989 and 1993 editions and bronze in 2006 and 2016. Sri Lanka on Monday beat Bangladesh 3-1 in the third place outing to win bronze medal.