A confident Indian volleyball team Saturday downed Pakistan in the final (3-2) here at Liaquat Gymnasium, Pakistan Sports Complex.
The 2-hour battle between the archrivals was witnessed by a jampacked gymnasium. The spectators while carrying play cards chanting for their home players also hailed the performance of Indian spikers, who impressed the crowd by their powerful shots.
The Indians while getting advantage from their height put up a better show than Pakistanis.
The Indians won first set by 25-18. Pakistan with the brilliant performance of Bakht Risal, Muhammad Tufail and Ehsan Ullah came back in the second set with 25-23 and also led the third set by the same score of 25-23.
The Indians who were losing at that moment staged a comeback, and won the fourth set by 25-18 and made the game level (2-2).
The fifth and final set that was expected to be a real thriller but the Pakistanis could not match the Indian spikers and lost the game by 15-10.
The spectators who were expecting gold for their home team started vacating their seats at the last moment of the match anticipating a defeat that was unacceptable for them.
Chairman of 9th SAF Games Organising Committee who was also the chief guest on the occasion, distributed medals to the teams. Others who were present on the occasion included Chaudhry Iftikhar, Senior Vice President of Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF), Secretary PVF Major Afzal (R) and other officials.
In another match of the day Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 3-2.