Pakistan register win against much stronger South Korea in volleyball championship

• Victory considered as one of finest by Pakistan volleyball team in recent years.
• Ali, Khan, Usman displayed great skills as Pakistan remained in control.
• Pakistan will now play Australia on Saturday morning.

KARACHI: Pakistan volleyball team achieved another remarkable win in the ongoing 21st Asian Volleyball Championship on Friday when it defeated much better ranked and stronger side South Korea 3-0 in the last match of classification group.

Although the team couldn’t qualify for the top-four stage despite this win, the victory against Korea is considered as one of the finest by the Pakistan volleyball team in recent years as it was ranked 48 and Korea, the four-time Asian Champions, were ranked 21st before the match.

Murad Ali, Musawir Khan, and Ali Usman Faryad displayed great skills as Pakistan remained in control throughout the match as Pakistan won by 25-23, 25-22, and 25-14.

Murad collectively earned 28 points while Musawir earned 10 points for the team — they both showed some brilliant fightback in the second set which Korea was once leading 18-16 before Pakistan made it 24-20 and then winning it 25-22.

Pakistan will now play Australia on Saturday morning for 5th to 8th place classification match and if they manage to beat Australians, they’ll play the winner of the Qatar vs Korea match for the 5th place.

If the Pakistan team wins against Australia on Saturday morning, it will ensure team’s best-ever performance in Asian Volleyball Championship in more than 30 years. They’ve never finished better than 7th in the tournament since finishing 4th in 1989’s edition of the Asian Championship.

The young side earlier defeated Thailand and Hongkong in preliminary group stage before going down against Iran. Then they went down against Chinese Taipei in first classification match before outclassing Korea 3-0 earlier today.