The Indian men's volleyball team maintained its strong performance, moving through to the quarterfinals of the Asian Games with a decisive 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei on Friday. After their incredible victory against South Korea, India defeated Chinese Taipei in three straight games by scores of 25-22, 25-22, and 25-21 to go to the playoffs for the 1-6th place. On Sunday, India will take on either Kazakhstan or Japan.They play quickly and have experience. The first two sets were won by them, but our team responded effectively and quickly gained control, said India captain Vinit to media after the match."We expected a four-setter, but our team played well with man-to-man marking and improved a lot," he continued. Early on, India was down 6-10, but Erin Varghese helped the team close the difference to 11-13.India had been trailing for the whole of the match until it finally tied the score at 21-21. Varghese and Ashwal Rai then won the next two points to give India the lead. In the second set, India took an early 3-0 lead, but Chinese Taipei eventually tied the match at 17-17. However, India gained ground in the waning seconds with a string of scores to end the match 25-22. India got off to a good start in the championship game, leading 10-4 at one point.Chinese Taipei managed to narrow it down to 10-12 before drawing level at 14-14.India, however, moved ahead to 21-18 before sealing it comfortably 25-21."Pakistan also had defeated them (Chinese Taipei) 3-0, so we were under pressure to defeat them," assistant coach Jaideep Sarkar said.With back-to-back wins over Korea and Chinese Taipei, this is a good morale-booster ahead of our match against Japan," he said."We are not inferior to anyone. Japan are a good side and we expect a tough contest," he added.
Asian Games 2023: The men's 10m air pistol team continued India's success story at the Asian Games, winning gold with two marksmen also making it to the individual finals. The team of Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Singh Cheema and Shiva Narwal narrowly beat the Chinese team to take the top podium and earn India its fourth gold medal from the shooting ranges. India's Naorem Roshibina Devi signed off with a silver medal after a 0-2 defeat against local heavyweight Wu Xiaowei in the women's 60kg wushu sanda final. The Indian found the going tough against Wu Xiaowei, the reigning champions in the category, allowing the Chinese to get off to a strong start. Wu was declared winners by the judges after two rounds. Trying to get her opponent off the mat, the local favourite had an aggressive first round and began with a splendid take down of Roshibina. The Manipuri athlete tried to bounce back and got her hold of Wu's leg to push her out to the edges but was unsuccessful as round one belonged to the Chinese who had a 1-0 lead. A watchful Wu sealed the issue with an attack on Roshibina Devi's torso in the second round. Roshibina had won a bronze in the 2018 edition at Jakarta. India's Anush Agarwalla, in a splendid display of equestrian prowess, secured a well-deserved bronze medal in the individual dressage event at the Asian Games.
