Monday, Apr 14, 2003
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Volleyball
By M.C. Raman
Jubilant members of the Indian team which won the Asian Youth boys' volleyball championship at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. — Photo: K.R. Deepak
It was a great show by any standard. Iran was the toughest team to tackle. There was absolutely no doubt about it. Pitted against the most accomplished team, which could change its tactics according the need of the situations, India fought brilliantly, hardly giving any chance for the rival to come back. Even the third set was in India's control. But in the finishing stages, Salehi jump served strongly to turn the set in Iran's favour. India bounced back brilliantly to win the fourth set and the championship in style. Before the match the Indian coach G.E. Sridharan said that the team would go all out because there was nothing to lose for the team as it finished seventh in the last Youth championship in Iran in 2001. After the triumph Sridharan was elated and said, "This is the greatest achievement in my life. I took the team to first ever Asian title by any Indian team. We have created history here.'' There was reason for his elation. Iran's block might have been weak, but it was the best spiking and serving team in the tournament. In close situations Iran always had an upper hand because of its jump serve. At least three could serve strongly. Salehi, Sadeghyani and Sadeghi. So there was every chance of India losing its grip. But setter Kamaraj played his heart out running all over the court and setting the ball intelligently. No wonder then he walked away with the Best Setter award of the championship. Where India really had an edge was in block. Sanjay, who received the Best Blocker and Most Valuable Player awards, did a commendable job both as attacker and blocker. Sanjay gave an early thrust to Indian attack with steady and deceptive spiking. The Iran blockers failed miserably to stop him. Later Srikanth picked up the thread and attacked with more sense and purpose. They both did exceedingly well and the MVP was only toss up between the two. Vikas was a bit wayward today and was responsible for India losing the third set. But he recovered in the fourth. Dinesh Kumar combined well in block and attacked short ball in between to keep India ahead. Libero Satish had a torrid time in retrieving Iran's service onslaught. But he too rose to the occasion, Indians sparkled in block. Soleymani was so confused that he hesitated to hit. He received the Best Scorer award, but his striking rate against India today was pretty bad. However, Sadeghyani caused more trouble to the Indian defence with deceptive spiking. Left-arm spiker Salehi disturbed the Indians' first pass. So was Sadeghi. However, India maintained its three-point lead in the first set and from 17-24 Iran rallied to 22-24 on SAlehi's service. But Rathish hit the short ball to stop Iran's fight back. But in the second set India got off to a good start with a 4-1 lead, but struggled later by trailing 19-23. It looked like as if Iran found its touch. But India caught up at 24. At 28-all Srikanth spiked well to give his team a two-set lead. The home team made a bad start in the third set conceding a two-point lead, which Iran maintained till 21-19. India made it 22-all with solid block. But left-hander Salehi's jump serve tilted the set in favour of Iran. But India bounced back again in the third with strong service. When India took a 19-13 lead Iran came under tremendous pressure and lost the match. The visiting team was so perturbed by the turn of events that its coach pulled out his No. 1 setter Behza and used Maroof because he knew the Indian blockers were reading him well.
Korea takes third place
Earlier, DPR Korea fought tenaciously to take the No. 3 spot, beating China 25-21, 25-20, 28-26. But the team's head coach, So Kwang Gon, was shown the red card today by referee Benny of India for disputing the decisions and holding up the match frequently. He was asked to sit out for the third set because of the red card. Without his guidance the North Korean team played well and won the match. Once again Ju Ryong and Pak Yong Nam, who received the Best Attacker award, gave no chance for China's beleagured block. The Korean team dominated right through. Barring a few flashes of brilliance by Zhen and Lei Wangs' spiking here was nothing much in China's game. China finished fourth. Earlier, Thailand finished fifth, beating Australia 25-22, 25-14, 25-16. Qatar came seventh, beating Chinese Taipei 25-15, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19. The final placings: 1. India, 2. Iran, 3. DPR Korea, 4. China, 5. Thailand, 6 Australia, 7. Qatar, 8. Chinese Taipei. Iran's Mohammed Zade received the Best Digger award. Srikanth was the Best Receiver and Sadeghyani was the Best SErver. Australia did not come in the first four. So Christensen Za, who topped in the Individual skills list, received a special award. Mr. Wang, President, Asian Volleyball Confederation, gave away the main prizes. Mr. B. Sivanthi Adityan, President, Volleyball Federation of India, presided.
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