India's bid to qualify for the semi-finals of the 12th Asian men's volleyball championship ended when they lost narrowly to Iran 2-3 in a thrilling second round encounter at Tianjin in China.
The Indian team blew away a one-game advantage and lost the match 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 25-23, 13-15, last night.
This was India's second successive reverse following their 1-3 defeat against Japan on Monday.
However, India can still make it to the qualifying tournament for the Athens Olympics. They need to win their 5-8 classification matches against Pakistan, Japan and Kazakhstan to be in the race.
"We lost the second match in succession due to some last-minute errors committed by our players," team manager B K Ojha said after the match.
"It was a yet another close encounter. I wish my boys were a bit more careful in the last minutes of the games," he said.
Hosts China, South Korea, Iran and Australia entered the semi-finals and will vie for the title in matches to be played from Thursday.
In another match, defending champions South Korea beat Japan 25-23, 25-19, 33-35, 26-24 in a second-round Group F match to prevent the latter from entering the knock-out stage of the championship.
The match between the two traditional Asian powerhouses was exciting as both the teams played some superb volleyball.
The Japanese led 22-21 in the first game and even surged ahead of the Koreans 20-18 in the second, but faded both times.
Kato Yoichi saved Japan from losing the match at 3-0 when his back-row attack leveled the score at 33-33. Then he had two consecutive brilliant services which destroyed South Korea's receiving, allowing teammate Usami Daisuke for two easy kills that secured the game for Japan.
The two sides traded leads to tie it at 24-all in the fourth game. After Suk Jin-wook's kill gave South Korea the edge, Japanese Daisuke set up a bad ball to surrender the match.
Japanese head coach Tanaka Mikiyasu was obviously disappointed with the result.
"We came here for the title, but now we are out of top four," Mikiyasu said. "We've got a lot of problems to solve, especially in serving."
"I am very happy that we can beat Japan when we are without two veteran players," said South Korean head coach Cho Joo-Hyun. "That proves that our young men have great potential."
China kept a clean sheet at the championship after beating Australia in straight games at Beijing on Tuesday.
The home side, which finished third in the last Asian championship in 2001, powered past the Australians 25-23, 25-17, 25-17 for their fourth consecutive 3-0 victory.
The first game was hotly contested while China maintained a narrow lead most of the way for a 24-23 edge. Shi Hairong, who led China with 11 kills, smashed a ball home to award China the opener.
Australia, who remained unbeaten before the match, stayed within 15-13 and 18-16 in the second. However, China ran off seven of the last eight points to make it 2-0.
The Australians went down tamely in the third.
"I am very happy with the win," said Chinese head coach Di An'he. "We did a good job in defense and blocking today."
China reaped 10 points from blocking and had 34 digs in the match that lasted just over an hour.
"Since we have entered the final round, we will strive to win the title and a berth in the World Cup," Di An'he added.
Shi finished with 12 points and Chinese libero Chu Hui added 11 digs.
Australia, runners-up to South Korea in the last edition, finished second in Group E with a 2-1 record.
"Our players are very young, and their skills are limited," said Australia head coach Uriarte Jon. "But they worked very hard today."
Pakistan beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in the other Group E match earlier in the day. Pakistan (1-2) and Kazakhstan (0-3) settled for the third and fourth place respectively in the group, going to the 5th-8th deciders.
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