By Sumayya
Pakistan beat China 3-0 in the men’s volleyball bronze-medal match at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Saturday, winning a third-place finish at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium.
The Pakistani team showed a dominant performance, winning all three rounds 25–18, 25–16 and 25–18 to complete an easy straight-sets victory. Pakistan made a great start by taking the opening round 25–18. Their better attacking skills proved vital, with Pakistan scoring on 16 of 25 smash attempts compared with China’s nine from 22 attempts.
Pakistan also held the upper hand at the net, making four successful blocks from 12 tries, while China only got one from eight.
The national team kept up its speed in the second round, which lasted 21 minutes, winning it 25–16. Pakistan again showed much better attacking play, scoring on 14 of 22 smash tries compared with China’s eight from 23. Pakistan also scored two points directly from their serves, while China failed to get any points from service play.
Even though China made more ball saves and slightly more set setups in the second round, they struggled to change those chances into points as Pakistan grew their lead.
Pakistan then finished the match by winning the third round 25–18 in 25 minutes. China got better in a few technical skills, making more set setups and ball saves while forcing seven Pakistan mistakes.
However, Pakistan stayed sharp when it counted most, using their scoring chances well to complete a thorough straight-sets win.
The bronze medal finished a great tournament for Pakistan, who started their Asian Games run with a 3–1 win over Kazakhstan.
They followed that up with another strong performance against Uzbekistan, getting a 3–0 win to confirm their spot in the next stage with a match left.
Pakistan faced their first loss in the final group match, going down 3–0 to the hosts Japan. The national team answered strongly in the quarter-finals, beating long-time rivals India to move into the final four.
However, their dreams of making the final were stopped by top champions Iran, who beat Pakistan 3–0 in Friday’s semi-final to move to the gold-medal match.
