18th Asian Junior Women’s U-19 Volleyball C’ship;Indian eves defeat Iran in straight sets

 STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Iran failed to secure a place among the top eight teams of the 18th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Thailand, after India defeated it in straight sets in a preliminary round match.
On Monday, the Indian Junior Women’s squad delivered a consistent play from the outset to the end of the Pool C match, held in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, and won the game in straight sets 3-0 (25-20, 25-19 and 25-21), Secretary General, volleyball Federation of India, Ramavtar Singh Jakhar in a handout said.
“It was a great show by any standard. Iran was the toughest team to tackle. There was absolutely no doubt about it. Pitted against the most accomplished team, which could change its tactics according to the need of the situation, India fought brilliantly, hardly giving any chance to the rivals to fight back,” he said.
After the triumph, the elated Indian captain said, “This is the greatest achievement of Indian eves.”
Kinjal, Chetna and Anupriya were the most valuable players, who did a commendable job both as attackers and blockers. They gave an early thrust to Indian attack with steady and deceptive spiking. The Iran blockers failed miserably to stop them.
Earlier on the first day match, India thrashed Macau 3-0 (25-05, 25-18, 25-07).
In group ranking, Indian team with a total of six points are in second place behind Japan, which is on top place with nine points. Indian team is schedule to play its next match against Thailand on 27th July. “We had a fierce competition with India, and the main reason behind our defeat was the lack of experience. Our setter and outside hitter were not groomed properly.
We would have emerged victorious if they had delivered better performances,” Iran’s head coach Fariba Sadeqi said after the match.
She added, “We had difficulty in ball reception throughout the game. My players could not accomplish the tasks they had been set as they were inexperienced.”
The 18th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship started on 23rd July and will wrap up on 31st July.
The top two teams of the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship in Mexico