Asian Games: Indian men and women spikers without medals

Incheon, Oct 2 (IANS)

The Indian women's volleyball team lost its 7th-8th position playoff 0-3 to Hong Kong to finish the Asian Games campaign at eighth spot, out of nine teams, at the Ansan Sangroksu Gymnasium here Thursday.

However, the Indian men's team beat Thailand 3-1 in the 5th-8th classification match at the Songnim Gymnasium to qualify for the 5th-6th position playoff, to be played against Qatar Friday.

In the women's match, Hong Kong outplayed India in all three sets, starting with the first which they took 25-16. India fought back strongly yet fell short by 26-28 in the second.

In the last set, Hong Kong again did not give the Indian spikers any chance and took the set 25-18 to win an overall score of 78-60 in a match that lasted an hour and 13 minutes.

Hong Kong skipper Yeung Sau Mei was the highest scorer of the match with 25 points while India's Tiji Raju was the best for India with 12 points.

Later in the men's playoff, Thailand started the one hour and 28 minutes encounter on a positive note by taking the first set 25-22.

But India turned the tables on the south east Asian nation to take the next three sets 25-18, 25-23 and 25-20 and proceed to the 5th-6th position match.