Asian Men's Volleyball Championship 2023: India 3-1 Afghanistan Highlights

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The Indian men's Volleyball team is scheduled to take on Qatar in their opening match at Asian Men's Volleyball Championship 2023 on Saturday. The start to the tournament wasn't a fruitful one as the blue colts lost to WR 19 Qatar in three sets convincingly. India had a two-point lead in the opening set (18-16) but could end up scoring only two points out of the next 11 points.

Silmilarly in set 2, India had a slender lead (10-9) but lost pace as the match progressed. Looking at both the sets, finishing off sets has been an issue which needs to be addressed against neighbouring Afghanistan side.

Jerome Vinith, Muthusamy Appavu and Amit Gulia are the top names who have made it to the final squad. Muthusamy Appavu in particular captained Ahmedabad defenders to victory in the second edition of Prime Volleyball League. Jerome Vinith on the other hand has had the experience of playing in the international circuit and will the attacker to watch out for.

Last time India played Qatar was back in 2021 with the latter handing former a straight sets defeat (3-0) in the same tournament. Winner of the current edition automatically books a place for the World Volleyball Championships 2025. India's best finish at the tournament has been a fourth place finish in 2005 and in the last edition the team finished ninth defeating Bahrain in the ninth-tenth qualification round.

The Asian Men's Volleyball Championship 2023 is set to commence on August 19 and run until August 26, 2023, in Urmia, Iran. A total of 17 nations will be competing at the 2023 edition of the Asian Men's Volleyball Championship. Iran secured its place in the event as host for the competition. 11 nations namely - Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Qatar, Pakistan, South Korea, India, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Hong Kong made it based on their previous edition’s performance.

While Afghanistan and Bangladesh (Central Asia), Indonesia and Thailand (Southeast Asia), and Iraq (West Asia) qualified through direct zonal wildcards. Mongolia was also granted entry from the East Asia region, but the nation withdrew from the competition.

Japan is the most accomplished team in the history of the championship, having collected a total of nine titles, four runner-ups, and four third-place finishes. Both South Korea and Iran have earned four trophies each in this continental event. China (3) and Australia (1) are the other nations to have claimed the coveted title in the competition.