India placed in tough group in Asian Volleyball Championships: to open campaign against Qatar
India is up for a tough challenge in the 2021 Asian Men's Volleyball Championships, as they have been paired alongside higher-ranked Japan and Qatar. To make it to the 5-8 classification matches, India will have to at least hope to beat Bahrain and Qatar. Only group toppers will progress to semis.
Indian spikers have been grouped along with champions Japan, Qatar and Bahrain in the Group A of the 2021Ā Asian Men's Volleyball Championships in Chiba. The tournament will start on Sunday and Japan will start their campaign against Bahrain on Sunday. India had qualified for the event in the 2019 Asian Championships in Tehran, and will open their tournament against Qatar on Monday.Ā
As per IANS, the 16 teams in the competition have been divided in four groups, with the winner of each group qualifying for the semifinal. The runners-up will make it to Pool F, and the teams there will play for positions 5-8.Ā
Hong Kong, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Australia, China, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea are the other teams in the competition.
As far as the world rankings are concerned, India is world no. 76, Japan are 10th, while Qatar and Bahrain are ranked 28th and 137th, respectively. If India manage to beat both Qatar and Bahrain, they will make it to Pool F.Ā
The rules state that --Ā teams get three points for winning the best-of-five-sets match and the loser does not get any point. But in case a team wins 3-2, the winner gets two points and the loser one.