Asian Games 2018: Report card on India's Performance in Volleyball as Iran takes Gold in Men's division and China claims Gold in Women's division
Volleyball for men has been included at the Asian Games since the 1958 edition in Tokyo, Japan. Women's event was introduced from the 1962 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Japan leads the overall table in the Men's event having won 8 Golds, 2 Silvers, and 2 Bronze. South Korea comes second with 3 Golds, 7 Silvers, and 4 Bronze. China occupies the third spot with 3 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 2 Bronze. India occupies 5th spot with a Silver and two Bronze.
In the Women's event, China leads the medals table with 8 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 1 Bronze. Japan occupies the second spot with 5 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 4 Bronze. South Korea comes third with 2 Golds, 8 Silvers, and 4 Bronze. India's best performance was a 6th place finish at the 1982 New Delhi Games.
Report Card: India's Performance in Men's Volleyball - Rating 3/10
Report Card: India's Performance in Women's Volleyball - Rating 3/10
Volleyball Men
Gold Medal Match
Iran dished a World class performance by thrashing South Korea in straight sets to claim the Gold. Sharifi with 13 spikes and Ghafour with 12 wreaked havoc on the Korean side. Seyedmohammad of Iran forced 6 blocks to create confusion in the Korean attack. Jiseok Jung of Korea was their only effective attacker with 11 spikes.
Iran (8) defeated South Korea (21) 25-17, 25-22, 25-21. (IRN - Amir Ghafour 41 pts, Morteza Sharifi 32; KOR - Jiseok Jung 33).
Bronze Medal Match
Chienchen Chen, captain of Chinese Taipei displayed an all-around performance to help Taipei take the Bronze overcoming Qatar. Chen had 11 spikes and 5 blocks with a reception percentage of 90% of the opponent's serve. Mubarak kept Qatar in the hunt with 16 spikes and 3 blocks. Taipei coach Chen Yuan was pleased with his team's effort and spoke to the media that "the team was able to reap the rewards of hard work".
Chinese Taipei (37) defeated Qatar (35) 25-22, 25-23, 17-25, 25-16. (TPE - Hungmin Liu 59, Chienchen Chen 49, Tsunghsuan Wu 45; QAT - Mubarak Hammad 63, Renan Ribiero 52, Belal Abunabot 43).
Semi-Finals
Sungmin Moon of Korea affected 18 spikes and was supported by Kwangjin (14 spikes) and Jaeduck (13 spikes), as a power-packed South Korea overwhelmed a competitive Taipei to earn a ticket to the Gold medal match.
South Korea (21) defeated Chinese Taipei (37) 20-25, 25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 15-12. (KOR - Kwangjin Jeon 49, Jiseok Jung 48, Sungmin Moon 47, Minho Choi 40; TPE - Chienchen Chen 53, Hongjie Liu 49, Hungmin Liu 47, Yihuei Lin 43).
Amir Ghafour spiked his way past the Qatari defense, with 16 spikes amassing 31 attacking points. The defense of Seyedmohammad and Ali Shafiei proved strong for the Qatari's to penetrate as they scored 31 points through Blocks. Mirsaeid was exceptional as he set up the Iranian attack beautifully with different combinations to bamboozle the Qatarian blockers.
Iran (8) defeated Qatar (35) 25-23, 25-19, 25-18. (IRN - Amir Ghafour 47, Ali Shafiei 43, Seyedmohammad Mousavieraghi 40; QAT - Mubarak Hammad 40).
Quarter-Finals
Iran (8) defeated China (20) 27-25, 25-20, 25-21. (IRN - Amir Ghafour 42, Milad Ebadipour 36; CHN - Chen Zhang 33).
Chinese Taipei (37) defeated Saudi Arabia (50) 22-25, 25-19, 25-8, 25-23. (TPE - Hungmin Liu 53, Hongjie Liu 48, Yihuei Lin 42; KSA - Abdulrahman 49, Oman Mansour 44).
South Korea (21) defeated Indonesia (41) 25-22, 25-18, 25-18. (KOR - Sungmin Moon 35, Jiseok Jung 32, Kwangjin Jeon 31, Minho Choi 30; INA - Rivan Nurmulki 39, Rendy Febriant 34).
Qatar quelled the challenge of Japan with a spirited display to win 3-2 and enter the semis. Both teams were exceptional with their blocking techniques in a riveting encounter.
Qatar (35) defeated Japan (12) 25-18, 26-28, 25-21, 22-25, 24-22. (QAT - Mubarak Hammad 90, Ndir Sadikh 70, Renan Ribiero 67, Ibrahim 64; JPN - Shunsuke Chijiki 91, Takuya Takamatsu 75).
Matches involving India
India dished out their worst performance at this year's game to finish 12th at the Asian Games. They lost to World no. 78 Myanmar in their classification match. Myanmar's captain Aung Thu provided an inspirational performance with 29 spikes and 24 shots to collect 67 attack points.
With the third set tied 25-25, Ranjit Singh failed a dig from Aung Thu's spike which was immediately followed by a block from Thwin Zin which handed the third set to Myanmar. In the final set, both teams were tied 12-12, when Prabagaran and Ranjit were unable to retrieve Aung Thu's spike which tilted the lead in favor of Myanmar. Akhin pulled one back through a spike to make it 14-13 but, a service error from Ukkarapandian gifted the match to Myanmar.
Classification Match 11-12 - Myanmar (78) defeated India (38) 25-21, 18-25, 27-25, 15-25, 15-13. (MYA - Aung Thu 84, Myo Min 55, Do Mae Ne Ko 55; IND - Prabagaran 65, Vinit Kumar 49, Akhin Gopala 48).
Even though Akhin Gopala produced 6 blocks, Murad Jehan and Aimal Khan pummeled India with breathtaking attacks to hand Pakistan a sensational victory over arch-rivals India.
7th–12th quarterfinals - Pakistan (50) defeated India (38) 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-23. (PAK - Murad Jehan 75, Aimal Khan 73; IND - Jerome Vinith Charles 53, Deepesh Kumar Sinha 49).
Japanese captain Hideomi Fukatsu scored three aces from his service as India found it hard against the 12th placed team in the world. Shinsuke with 25 and Prabagaran with 21 were the top attackers for both teams.
Classification 1-12 - Japan (12) defeated India (38) 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20. (JPN - Shunsuke Chijiki 66, Takuya Takamatsu 55, Naoya Takano 52; IND - Prabagaran 53, Jerome Vinith Charles 47, Akhin Gopala 40).
Group Stage
India (38) defeated Hong Kong (78) 27-25, 25-22, 25-19. (IND - Prabagaran 43, Akhin Gopala 33, Gurinder Singh 30; HKG - Chun Hin Man 34).
Qatar (35) defeated India (38) 25-15, 25-20, 25-20. (QAT - Mubarak Hammad 43, Ndir Sadikh 36, Renan Ribiero 33, Ibrahim 30; IND - Jerome Vinith Charles 50, Prabagaran 42).
India got their defense organized as they showed great blocking prowess to overpower the Maldives. Deepesh Kumar and Karthick Ashok were crucial in getting the blocks for the Indian team.
India (38) defeated Maldives (78) 25-12, 25-21, 25-17. (IND - Prabagaran 30; MDV - Huzam Ali 41, Naseem Adam 30).
Other Important Matches
Pakistan's superior blocking ability unsettled the strong Chinese attack to lose the playoff semifinal. China after a comfortable first set fought hard to lose the second and claim the third before losing the last two sets. This is China's worst-ever performance at the Asian Games.
7th–10th semifinals - Pakistan (50) defeated China (20) 17-25, 28-26, 28-30, 25-19, 18-16. (PAK - Aimal Khan 88, Muneer Khan 51; CHN - Liye Li 97, Yuanbo Li 55).
Both teams displayed an excellent blocking ability pertaining to their physical nature. Kyrgyzstan prevailed in a thrilling 5 setter to upstage an experienced Kazakh team.
Playoffs - Kyrgyzstan defeated Kazakhstan (35) 27-29, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 15-7. (KGZ - Onolbek Kanybek 68, Nurmukhammed Toktoev 46; KAZ - Maxim Michshenko 66, Mikhail Ustinov 53).
Group Stage
Vietnam (78) defeated China (20) 25-23, 26-24, 19-25, 22-25, 21-19. (VIE - Thanh Thuan Tu 63, Thanh Hac Le 48; CHN - Jingyi Wang 62, Yuantai Yu 55, Zhejia Zhang 53).
Myanmar (78) defeated Kazakhstan (35) 17-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-18. (MYA - Aung Thu 53, Myo Min 41; KAZ - Maxim Michshenko 43).
Saudi Arabia (50) defeated Indonesia (41) 25-23, 16-25, 25-19, 25-22. (KSA - Oman Mansour 47, Ibrahim Ali 46, Abdulrahman 46; INA Rivan Nurmulki 57, Rendy Febriant 57).
Final Standings
1 - Iran, 2 - South Korea, 3 - Chinese Taipei, 4 - Qatar, 5 - Japan, 6 - Indonesia, 7 - Thailand, 8 - Pakistan, 9 - China, 10 - Saudi Arabia, 11 - Myanmar, 12 - India, 13 - Sri Lanka, 14 - Vietnam, 15 - Nepal, 16 - Kyrgyzstan, 17 - Kazakhstan, 18 - Mongolia, 19 - Hong Kong, 20 - Maldives.