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India men's volleyball captain Vineet said on Friday that they were expecting a tough match against Chinese Taipei but close man-to-man marking helped them win the contest and reach the classification stage of the Asian Games.
The Indian men's volleyball team defeated Chinese Taipei in straight sets in the Asian Games to continue its winning momentum. Ranked 43 in the world, Chinese Taipei fought hard but the Indian team, who defeated South Korea earlier this week, kept scoring. The match was good. We were not thinking that the game would be too easy as they are a strong side. We played well with man-to-man marking. We were expecting tough competition, Vineet said, adding that they were expecting the match to last longer. India have advanced to the classification stage and they will now face two-time champions Japan on Sunday. Assistant coach Jaideep Sarkar said that the team will try to beat Japan. We will try to beat Japan, we are a good team. Our morale was further boosted after we won against South Korea, Sarkar said. India trailed in the first game for the beginning half as the Chinese Taipei established a two-point lead with the score reading 12-14. They went on to establish a four-point lead with the score reading 19-14 before India called for a time-out. India managed to impressively bounce back and take away the first game 25-22 following successive errors by Lin Yi-Huei, Chen Chien-Chen and Chang Yu-Sheng. The second game commenced and India capitalised on the confidence they earned after the first game. Ashwal displayed grit and determination early in the second game as his block allowed India to bag three points. Chinese Taipei weren't willing to go down easily as they stayed within the reach of taking the lead as the score read 10-8 in favour of India. Tai Ju-Chien registered a crucial block as Chinese Taipei continued to fight, levelling the score 17 each. India fought hard and eventually prevailed 25-22. India won the third game 25-21 and won the match 3-0.(ANI)
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