Indian volleyball team bows out of Doha with win against UAE

Doha, Dec 9 (UNI) In an inconsequential pool A match, India thrashed UAE 3-0 before bowing out of the volleyball competition of the Asian Games here today.

Six teams -- China, Kazakhstan, Korea, Iran, Japan and host Qatar -- have been directly seeded into the knockout quarterfinal stage while only two teams from each pool joined them to complete the last eight line-up.

India finished second in pool A behind Saudi Arabia and thus failed to make the cut. They won three of their four matches while lost to Saudi Arabia and that made all the difference.

Playing in their last league match, India crushed UAE 25-12, 25-14, 25-19 in a tremendous display of attacking volleyball to win the match in 57 minutes.

It was sad to see India bowing out because they were clearly the superior side in the pool and the loss to much lower-ranked Saudi Arabia cost them a place in the knockout stage.

Once again, the trio of Tom Joseph, Rajeev and P Srikanth gave an outstanding display while spiking points and defending them. It was an all-round display which won the hearts of many but not the berth in the last eight which they deserved.

UAE were never in the game and their spikers just went through the motions to complete the formality as they had lost all their previous matches.

Coach Chander Singh later rued the early exit and said, ''It was sad to go out like this, especially after we won all but one matches.'' Sivarajan was visibly upset and the spiker said, ''We had prepared well for the tournament and trained for eight months, hoping to make it to the knockout stage at least. But the defeat against Saudi Arabia cost us dearly and undid all the good work.'' UNI HSB AY KN1948