Jakarta. Indonesia won four straight games at the Asian Men’s U-20 Volleyball Championship, advancing to the semifinals and qualifying for next year’s U-21 World Championships.
Indonesia beat India 3-1 in a crucial Pool E match at the Jawa Pos Arena in Surabaya on Saturday night to book a place in the semi-finals.
The home team dominated the opening set, winning 25-20, before India stormed back in the second set, overcoming a six-point deficit to tie the score, but eventually lost 25-23.
In the third set, poor reception and weak defence led to multiple self-destructive errors from the Indonesian players, allowing the visitors to gain the upper hand and helping India win by nine points.
Knowing Indonesia was one set away from qualifying for the World Championships, coach Li Qiujiang encouraged his players to regain their confidence and return to the aggressive style they showed in the first set.
Cheered enthusiastically by the home crowd, the Indonesians won the fourth set 25-18.
“Junior players like them tend to underestimate their opponents, especially after winning the first two sets. They started making mistakes and couldn’t recover from them. I urged them to play with more confidence in the fourth set,” the Chinese coach said.
Opposite hitter Dauda Araihi was Indonesia’s top scorer with 26 points, ahead of teammates Darda Mulya (middle blocker) and Falchan Vakrezi (open hitter), who each scored 10 points.
Earlier this week, the hosts recorded three consecutive wins in group matches, defeating Hong Kong, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
A win against India was crucial as Indonesia’s next group match was against Asian powerhouse and three-time champions Japan, a loss would have made it very difficult for Indonesia to progress further.
The other semi-finals will feature reigning champions Iran and South Korea from Pool F.
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