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Pakistan
outclass Vietnam in thriller win
JAKARTA—Hot favorite Australia cruised to the last eight round after
they outclassed Kazakhstan in a do-or-die match in the Pool D
qualification, while Pakistan outclassed Vietnam by 3-2 in a five-set
thriller of the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship in
Indoor Tennis Stadium in Jakarta.
Following up their victories over India and Kuwait, Australia completed
their clean sweep by beating Kazakhstan in straight-set 3-0 (25-14,
25-20, 25-14) in the pool. Chinese Taipei also clinched the place to
last eight round after beating Maldives straight-set without much sweat
at scores of 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-10) in Pool A. Australia and Chinese
Taipei join the other two pool winner Iran and Thailand who clinched
their tickets on Saturday already into the top eight. Australia will
play defending champions Japan, while Chinese Taipei against China.
Australia took four points in a row to lead 4-0 and 6-2 with vigorous
and continous attacks by Daniel Howard (208cm), the tallest player in
the championship. But the situation did not dampen the spirit of
Kazakhstan who fought back to level at 9-9. Head coach of Kazakhstan
Viktor Zhuravlev called for first time out when they trailed 9-13 and
they slowly closed the gap at 12-15. But Australia never looked back to
clinch the first set 25-14. In the second set, there was nothing
Kazakhstan could do to escape from the pressure. Again, Australia took a
lead at 13-8 and Kazakhstan with vigorous attacks from Sergey Trikoz
(206cm) managed to close the gap 18-20 and 20-22. Australia grasped
three consecutive points to close the second set at scores of 25-20.
In the third set, Kazakhstan still could not improve their performance
and even played worse than the first two set. This condition made
Australia rallied to 17-7 and a big spike by Brett Alderman clinched the
game at 25-14.
“I am satisfied with the way my team played. We managed to play
consistent and we hope we can play better in the next round,” head coach
Australia Russel Borgeaud said after the match.—Agencies |
