Pakistan Men's Volleyball team settles for Silver at 13th South Asian Games
Pakistan suffered their first defeat of the tournament against India by 3-1 in the final Volleyball game of South Asian Games 2019 which are being held in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal.
Pakistan Men's Volleyball team was up against the rivals India with the Gold medal of Volleyball on the line in 13th South Asian Games where they ultimately fell short of their goal by 3-1 and had to settle for Silver instead.
The national side had a good start as they took the lead by convincingly winning the first set 25-20.
The performance of Pakistani players, however, started to deteriorate in the second set of which their opponents took full advantage by winning the second 25-15.
The side from India never gave up the upper-hand and won the third set by 25-17.
Pakistan showed great spirit and fight to try and equalize the score line in what proved to be the final set but eventually had to settle for the runner up spot as the neighbors took the fourth set 29-27
Even with the loss, Pakistan added another silver to its tally.
It was Pakistan team's first loss in the tournament as earlier, the green shirts started the tournament by completely thrashing Maldives 3-0 in their opening game. However, the national side had to struggle against Sri-Lanka but eventually sealed the game 3-1.
The green team then booked their spot in the final by beating Bangladesh with a dominant 3-0 scoreline.
Pakistan Men's Volleyball squad comprises of top 16 players who are accompanied by two officials and Aimal Khan has led the Pakistani team at this regional extravaganza.
Men's Squad: Abdullah, Mubashir Raza, Mohammad Idrees, Mohammad Kashif Naved, Murad, Abdul Zaheer, Fahad Raza, Nasir Ali, Usman Faryad Ali, Farooq Haider, Hamid Yazman, Mohammad Usman.
Officials: Kim Kyoung-Hoon (Head Coach), Mazhar Hussain (Assistant Coach), Sardar Mohammad Khan (Manager).
Pakistan have so far won two Gold medals in the history of the South Asian Games in Volleyball, having done so in 1989 in Islamabad and 1993 in Dhaka. The Green-shirts have now won seven Silvers and two Bronze as well. In the 2016 SAG held in India, Pakistan grabbed the Bronze medal.
