STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: After a gap of 20 years, Indian team led by Captain Dushyant Singh Jakhar finished its campaign at the Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship with a silver medal after losing 1-3 against Iran in the final in Riffa, Bahrain.
The Indian team put on a great fight, but couldn’t compare to the Iranian side as the latter triumphed over the former 12-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-25.
India beat Thailand in the semifinals with a score of 3-1 ( 25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-17) to reach the final.
This was the second instance the two teams faced each other. India and Iran met during the pool stage where Iran piped India 3-0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-19).
India had previously won two silver, having lost once to South Korea and Iran in 1994 and 2002 respectively.
India secured second position in the Championship among 17 Asian countries after a gap of 20 years.
Throughout the event, Captain of the Indian Team, Dushyant Singh Jakhar played an outstanding game supported by Aman Kumar, Tanish, Sameer Chaudhary, Ajeet Shekho, Harshit Giri, Sachin Dagar and libero Kartikeyan to achieve this exceptional feat.
Indian Captain Dushyant Singh Jakhar was also awarded with “Best Blocker of Asia Award” and Karthikeyan awarded with ‘Best Libero of Asia Award’ by the Asian Volleyball Confederation.
Korea clinched the bronze medal after thumping Thailand in straight sets (31-29, 25-16, 25-14). Thailand, bronze medallists in 2018, finished fourth.
With this performance, Indian U-20 volleyball team has qualified to play FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship 2023.
Prof. (Dr.) Achyuta Samanta-Member of Parliament & President, VFI, S. Vasudevan-Chairman VFI, Raj Kumar-Executive Vice President VFI, Ramavtar Singh Jakhar-Executive Vice President-CZ, Asian Volleyball Confederation, President, Rajasthan State Olympic Association, Anil Choudhary-Secretary General, Sunil Tiwari-Treasurer VFI and all the office bearers of the Volleyball Federation of India congratulated the players of silver medal winner team and Chief Coach G E Sridharan, Rajesh and Praveen Sharma- Assistant Coaches and Manager Prof. Nalakath Basheer and Dr. Narendra Singh Kshatriya-FIVB International Referee for their tremendous and mind blowing performance.
“This medal is the great efforts of players, who under the guidance and supervision of Prof. (Dr.) Achyuta Samanta and Ramavtar Singh Jakhar, played a fine game in the whole championship,” said Associate Secretary VFI Kuldeep Magotra.
Magotra added that under the Presidentship of Dr. Samanta, volleyball in India will prosper and achieve new heights at national and international levels.
For the wholesome development of Indian Volleyball, he said, Dr. Samanta and Ramavtar Singh Jakhar take all necessary steps for players as well as officials of volleyball throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Patron-in-Chief, Volleyball Association of Jammu and Kashmir, Raj Daluja; President, Sidharth Daluja; Chief Executive Officer, Kuldeep Magotra; General, Secretary, V K Magotra; Treasurer, R C Sharma; Executive Vice President, H S Gill, Joint Secretary Mohd Tariq and other office bearers of VAJK also congratulated all players and officials for their performance in the final match and got silver medal after 20 years.