Asian Volleyball C'ships 2023: India knocked out, loses to China

Indian men's volleyball team was knocked out of the ongoing Asian Volleyball Championships 2023 after losing to China in Urmia, Iran on Wednesday.

India lost a closely fought game against China by the score of 2-3 (29–31. 25–19, 18–25, 25–22, 13–15). After the loss against China, India will play the positional matches of 7th to 12th place.

India qualified for the knockouts (round of 12) after finishing second in Pool E behind Qatar. India won one game and lost one in the pool stage.

India did not get off to a good start to the tournament as Qatar hammered it 3-0. India earned a two-point lead in the opening set (18-16) but could score only two points in the next 11. India gained a slender lead (10-9) in the second set but lost steam as the match progressed.

India lost the second and third sets 25-19 each.

In the do-or-die match against Afghanistan, the Indians came determined to win as they won the first two sets and then won the match after Afghanistan tried to make a mini-comeback in the third game. Ashwal Rai was the standout performer for the Indian team in the match with 36 points.

Indian squad for Asian Volleyball Championships 2023:

Indian squad: Amit Gulia, Ashamatullah, Ashwal Rai, Erin Varghese, Hari Prasad BS, Jerome Vinith, John Joseph EJ, Muthusamy Appavu, Shameemudheen, Vinayak Rokhade, Vinit Kumar, Rohit Kumar