|
|
Indian team, featuring Odisha player Ashish Kumar Swain, won the bronze medal the 14th Asian Mens U-18 Volleyball Championship for first time in 14 years, beating Korea 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 26-28, 19-25, 15-12) in the third-place playoff at the Federation Hall in Tehran, Iran today.
The win today was the second for India against formidable Korea in the current tournament. Earlier in their 3rd and last Pool-B match, India had had beaten Korea 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-21) on August 18.
India had bagged the Asian U-18 Volleyball bronze medal last time in 2008 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They had finished seventh in the previous edition in Tabriz four years ago. India had won the gold medal in 2003 at Visakhapatnam and silver medal in 2007 (Kuala Lumpur). India also won the bronze medal in 2005 (Tehran).
|
|
|
Japan clinched a hat-trick by winning the gold medal for the third time in a row, beating host Iran in the final 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) final today. Earlier in the semifinals yesterday, Iran defeated India 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-18), while Japan prevailed over Korea 3-1 (37-39, 25-22, 25-21, 25-14).
India reached the semifinals, getting the better of Chinese Taipei 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 25-27, 25-23) in the quarterfinals on August 20. India qualified for the quarterfinals, finishing second in Pool-B with two wins and one loss.
India started campaign with a defeat, losing to Japan 2-3 (20-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 13-15) on August 15. But they bounced back in style, beating Thailand 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 27-25, 25-23) in their second pool match on August 16.
Volleyball Federation of India President and KIIT & KISS founder Prof Achyuta Samanta congratulated all players and officials of the Indian U-18 team for winning the bronze medal for the country.
INDIAN U-18 MEN VOLLEYBALL TEAM: Khush Singh, Shekhar Turan, Aditya Rana, Nayanbhai Dhruvil Patel, Lavi Kumar, Ashish Kumar Swain, Kartik Sharma (Captain), Kartik Yaman (Libero), Atul Singh, Abhishek, Kabilan Mahendran, Baliyan Ariyan.
Team Staff: Jaykumar Nadarajan (Manager), Bir Singh Yadav (Head Coach), Sailesh Chaudhury (Assistant Coach).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PICS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP: File photo of Odisha volleyball player Ashish Kumar Swain.
RIGHT: Players, coaches and support staff of the Indian U-18 Men volleyball team celebrate after winning the bronze medal at the Asian Championship in Tehran on 22 August 2022.
|