India thumps Thailand to enter Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball C’ship 2022 finals
August 29, 2022
India triumphed over Thailand 3-1 to enter the finals of the 21st Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship 2022 on Sunday.
The Indian team will now face defending champions Iran at 9:30 PM IST on August 29, after reaching its third finals with a scoreline of 25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-17.
The first game saw India making a few rookie service errors, however, the Indians managed to equalise the score and take the upper hand as the Thai trailed by two or three points for the larger part of the game. Sameer Chaudhary played a major role in winning India its first game 25-21.
The Thailand team led the second game with ease causing a four-point 4-8 advantage in the first half, which soon turned one-sided. India miscalculated several times leading to the trailing score. The players were seen talking to coach Sridharan often after losing several points in a row. This proved to work as India staged a brilliant come from behind equalising 18 all after falling behind by almost four to five points the entire game. However, the Thai defence made quick work by taking the last two points 25-23 to level out the match.
Indians’ ability to counter-attack was tested in the third game, despite leading by more than two points for the first few minutes. The Thai payers were seen arguing with the referee for a long time as Indians were awarded a point at 10-12 on what they felt was out despite the officials telling the ball had slightly touched a Thai player’s fingers and a yellow card was shown. The Indian attackers took their time and the defenders followed as India took the lead 25-18.
The start of the fourth game saw a brilliant rally and the Indian libero Karthikeyan leaving the court in pursuit of the ball and ran back to reach the court by the time the ball returned to the Indians. Thai captain Pramot Yotsanthia tried to dump the ball in the Indian court but was wide off the sideline. The Indians never seemed in trouble leading from the start and winning the fourth game and match 25-17 with the Indian captain Dushyant Singh landing the last blow.
Earlier, India produced a fine display to overcome the Bahrain hurdle 25-22, 25-19, 26-28, 26-24 to enter the semifinals.
