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.
