Junior Men's Volleyball Championship: India U21 lose to hosts Turkey

It was not a good day for the young Indian volleyball players as the Indian U-21 volleyball team lost to Turkey 25-18 25-23 25-20 in the play-off match for 5-8 positions in the world Junior Men’s Volleyball Championship being held at Ankara, Turkey.

The Indian team, which lost to Russia 25-21 25-15 25-16 in the quarterfinals, were completely outclassed by the Turkish team in the first set. The Turkish team, led by Gokhan Gokgoz, scored 7 crucial points in the first set which helped the home team to take control of the first set from the initial stage.

Indian team improved their performance in the next set with Indian striker Sohan Kumar scoring 7 points which helped India to take the lead in the second set, but that was not all as on the other side of the net, Metin Toy scored 9 points. Turkey’s better blocking in the conclusive moments helped their team to win the second set 25-23.

Blocking effort by the local boys in the third set was extraordinary which helped their team to clinch the third set 25-20. Metin Toy, with 15 points for Turkey, and Sohan Kumar with 14 points for India, were the two best scorers of the match.

“We tried our best in this match, but it did not work well for us. We had already lost by 0-3 to Turkey in the pool. I think we played better this time. We could manage to get a win over Turkey if we had one more chance I think. We do not have match experience, and we gain experience day by day by playing matches,” said Indian coach T.C Jothish after the match.

Today Indian team will play Argentina for 7-8 place .