Asian Men's Volleyball Championship 2023: India, China clash for quarter-finals spot

India finished ninth at the previous edition.

The Indian men’s Volleyball team team, after finishing second in Pool E, are set to take on neighbours China for a place in the quarter-finals of the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship 2023 on Wednesday (July 23rd). After starting the tournament with a loss against Qatar, India bounced back to win their next match against Afghanistan, thereby qualifying to the knockouts stage.

China, on the other hand, topped Pool C by registering close victories over Indonesia and Kazakhstan respectively. In the final pool game, China came from behind (1-2) to get the better of the Central Asian side (3-2). GH Zhang and B.Wang lead the scorers’ chart for China; scoring 40 points each and currently are positioned in the second and third spots respectively. Both the tall players have good attacking prowess, which is quite visible from the number of points they have scored through attack (34 points each).

Meanwhile, India had a good start against Qatar, leading by a small margin in the opening two sets, but failed to hold on in either. To analyze a step further, the Men In Blue were leading (18-16) in the first set and post that could score only two points out of the next 11, losing (20-25). With the lack of international exposure, finishing matches against quality sides has been a concern which needs to be taken care of.

However, in the do-or-die encounter, India garnered the first two sets, with Afghanistan making a mini comeback in the third. In the end, the Indians emerged victorious and booked a spot in the final 12. Ashwal Rai has been the standout performer having scored 36 points. Muthusamy Appavu and a few other Indian players too have played consistently in the limited match time available.

Unlike the previous edition where Indian finished ninth, the team will look to go a step further and enter the top 8 at the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship 2023.

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