Wednesday, Apr 09, 2003
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Volleyball
By M.C. Raman
India and Australia, playing to its potential at last, wrapped their matches quite comfortably against Chinese-Taipei respectively at 25-14, 25-19, 25-14 and South Korea 25-22, 25-22, 25-23. DPR Korea has come into focus with its superb performance and is in a position to finish in the top two after two wins from three matches. Having been outplayed by Iran in its opening match, the North Korean side had bounced back brilliantly by taming Australia in a five-setter on Monday. On Tuesday, it went a step further by lowering the colours of China, which may suffer because of this sudden reverse. What was shocking was the way the Chinese caved in against a sustained and clever onslaught. The secret of such recovery and brilliance in DPR Korea's game has been that in each match one spiker has risen to the occasion and turned the match around. If it was Pak Yong Nam against Australia, it was Ri Man Yong today. Ho Kwang Chol also playing a role along with Pak Yong and Ju Ryong to make China's life miserable. China suffered a setback when Maosheng sprained his ankle in the first set and had to be carried away. There was no indication of China's collapse when the team virtually outplayed the rival in the first set with a strong attack and steady block. It maintained its three and five point lead to wrap up the set. Then it made a big blunder by playing casually at 21-20 in the second set. That was the turning point as DPR rallied brilliantly. The Chinese spiker, Yu Dawei, was the culprit as he became erratic and it was surprising that the coach persisted with him. Whether it was service or attack, he was wayward for most of the time. DPR had two set points and then took the set over extra points. It was DPR Korea all the way after that as China choked badly when the pressure came. There was hardly any block and Zhen Wang, who spiked and served so superbly against Australia, was a subdued player without any bite in his jump serve. Lei Wang's attack came in bits and pieces. The North Koreans finished superbly in the final stages of third and fourth sets. At 21-21 in the third set, Ri Man hit the ball intelligently as did Ju Ryong. With a block the Korean team took a two sets to one lead. In the fourth set too, China threw away points through bad serve and wayward spiking by Zheng. DPR maintained a three-point lead to win the match. India did not have to exert itself as the Chinese Taipei players gave away at least seven or eight negative points in each set. So bad was the visitors' serve and attack! Sanjay Kumar played superbly without missing any of his shots and had about 90 per cent spiking as Srikanth played second fiddle. Vikas Tomar and Dinesh Kumar did well both in short ball attack and block. In fact, India's block was much better on the day and the coach G.E. Sridharan was satisfied, though he wants more power in service. Though the first pass was not satisfactory, setter Kamaraj managed to keep the attack going with neat boosting. The Taipei players did not test the rivals with strong jump serve and though Lin Nai did better as the spiker later, the visiting side hardly put any pressure on the home team. India maintained three or four points lead in every set. It led 16-12 in the first, 16-10 in the second and 17-11 in the third. There was hardly any challenge from Taipei. Australia's blocking power is such that it should be able to shut out any team here. But the team has made a bad start, losing the first two over five-sets. However on Tuesday, it did a neat job to bring down South Korea, which suffered its second defeat. Australia did not allow its rival to stretch it. Using the towering Za Christensen throughout the match, the Aussies surged ahead as the Korean team did not have the block to stop him. Za gave the team an head start and Australia maintained a four-point lead. Even Australia's second line attack was better today. Grant hit the ball well and though Moran was a bit unsteady, Joshua and Roberts lent support. But more than that it was Australia's blocking in the finishing stages that gave it an edge. Left arm spiker Chul Woo Park gave a torrid time to the Aussies in the third set. But when finally he too put the ball into the net, Australia recorded its first win in three matches. Sung-Min Moon, Young Min-Lee and Sang Ha Park formed the main Korean attack. But they were not steady, hitting the ball into the net or out. Korea sank quickly for the second time. Wednesday's matches: Qatar v Thailand (1 p.m.), Iran v Australia (3 p.m.) and China v Korea (5 p.m.)
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