Tehran, Iran, September 15, 2019 – Korea beat Indonesia in hard-fought straights sets 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 for three wins in a row to capture the top spot in Pool D at the SMM 20th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship at the 12,000-seater Azadi Sports Complex on Sunday.
Against the team they had beaten 3-1 in the bronze-medal match at the previous edition two years ago, Korea made a flying start with a demanding 25-22 win in the opening set, but Indonesia clawed their way back and challenged the rivals seriously in the second set. Na Gyeong-Bok and Im Donghyeok joined forces in puncturing the Indonesian defence to help Korea win the hard-fought set 25-19.
Indonesia, which narrowly went down 2-3 to Pakistan the previous match, tried hard to come back but still failed to make their mark. Korea captured the third set 25-20 and match.
Na Gyeong-Bok scored a team-high 14 points for Korea, 13 of them through devastating attacks, while Dimas Saputra Pratama led Indonesia with 10 points.
Following the loss, Indonesia ended the pool plays with 4 points from one win against two losses to finish third place in Pool C, while the Sunday’s win helped Pakistan overtake the Indonesians to the second spot. Indonesia came in third place, with Kuwait in fourth position. With only top two teams advancing to the round of the top 8 teams, Indonesia and Kuwait missed the cut and will next contest the classification round of 9th-16th places.
“This is my first experience in the Asian Senior Men’s Championship. I am the youngest player of the team. I am learning from the experienced members and I hope we can reach our maximum level”, said Im Donghyeok, the youngest player of Korea who had already participated in the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship in Bahrain.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: https://twitter.com/avcvolley
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation