City
Epaper

Asian U-23 volleyball: India beat China, New Zealand

By IANS | Updated: August 4, 2019 22:10 IST

Aug 4 India started their campaign in the Asian Mens U-23 Volleyball Championship on a strong note by registering back-to-back wins over China and New Zealand here on Sunday.

Open in App

While New Zealand were defeated 3-0 with relative ease, China put up a strong fight as the hard-fought contest lasted five sets.

Against China, India captain Amit Gulia led the way with a total of 22 points in the game but it was Kerala's Shon John who stole the show with 23 points.

The first set didn't go India's way and despite giving China a hard run, Amit Gulia's boys went down 22-25. But India came back strongly in the second set and kept China under check, largely due to John and Gulia. They eventually nicked a close set, which lasted 32 minutes, 29-27.

India started strongly in the third set and continued their good run to clinch it 25-17.

The fourth set proved to be as closely contested as the second set and it was difficult to separate the two teams. India had a match point but couldn't prevent China from taking the set to ensure the match went into the decider.

Till the halfway mark of the final set, both the teams didn't give an inch to each other and kept coming back to take the lead. However, post the halfway mark, the momentum quickly shifted India's way and with China failing to arrest the slide, India clinched the final set 15-11 to register an impressive win.

Zheng Guangyuan stood out for China, finishing the match with the highest number of points 24.

The encounter against New Zealand ended in three sets as the Kiwis never seemed to threaten the Indian boys and were brushed aside 25-18, 25-14, 25-12.

India will play their final Group D fixture against Thailand on Monday. The top two teams from the group will progress to the next round.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: indiachinaShon John
Open in App

Related Stories

TechnologyHow To Effortlessly Transfer Data from Android to iPhone Using Apple’s Move to iOS App

NationalDonald Trump Imposes Additional 25% Tariff on India, Total Tariff Now 50%

TechnologyWill the Government Have to Offer More Incentives on EVs? NITI Aayog Raises Concerns Over Slow Sales Growth

OpinionsWhy is Trump So Upset with India?

InternationalBeijing Rains: 44 Dead and 9 Missing Due to Torrential Rainfall in China

Other Sports Realted Stories

Other SportsIOA to hold special meeting on August 13; 2030 Commonwealth Games bid on the table

Other SportsPunjab FC announces 26-member squad for Punjab State League

Other SportsSubroto Cup to kick off on August 19

Other SportsOrla Prendergast gains big in ICC Women's T20I rankings after stellar performance against Pakistan

Other SportsSplit in opinion leads to postponement of Man Utd fan group protest against Ratcliffe