Bangkok, Thailand, November 28, 2022 – Hosts Pakistan and Iran respectively powered past Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to remain the only two unbeaten teams on course for the title in the Engro Central Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship at Nishtar Park Sports Complex in Lahore on Sunday.
Iran in action with Bangladesh
Pakistan survived a scare from Sri Lanka to beat the spirited visitors in hard-fought straight sets on Sunday, while Iran proved a cut above Bangladesh for a 3-0 rout of the less-rated rivals.
Pakistan celebrate their win
At the completion of Day 4, Iran and Pakistan had similar performances to bag 9 points from three straight wins, but the former had yet lost a set to their opponents to stay atop the five-team standing and the latter finished second.
Bangladesh came in third place with 4 points from one win against three losses, with Sri Lanka, which had 2 points from one win against two losses, and winless Afghanistan in respective fourth and fifth positions.
Bangladesh already completed their round-robin campaign, but their anticipated outcome was a far cry from what Iran and Pakistan had already achieved. Iran and Pakistan had claimed 9 points, leaving the remaining teams to be unable to catch up with the two powerhouses of the zone.
On Monday, hosts Pakistan will play their last preliminary match against Iran to vie for the top spot of the standing. However, win or lose in that highly-anticipated clash, both teams have already qualified for the final showdown and a rematch on Tuesday.
In the other match on Monday, Afghanistan will have to come out at their maximum strength in a much-win match against Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan badly need either 3-0 or 3-1 win against the Sri Lankans to claim 3 points to overtake the rivals for a well-earned fourth place at the overall standing. So far, Sri Lanka had only 2 points from winning one match, but if they go down to Afghanistan 0-3 or 1-3 on Monday, the Afghans will advance to the top four spots following a better performance on total points.
If things go the Afghanistan’s way on Monday, they will finish fourth place at the end of round-robin preliminaries and will take on Bangladesh in the Tuesday’s third-place playoff clash, leaving Sri Lanka to return home with the fifth position.
Meanwhile, in the Sunday’s clashes, Pakistan, current world No.41 and 7th at the last year’s Japan-hosted Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Chiba and Funabashi, struggled to beat Sri Lanka in…
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