India's challenge in the Asian Games volleyball event came to an end on Saturday after they failed to win the only quarter-final berth from their group.
The Indians rounded off their Group 'A' league engagements in style by routing lowly United Arab Emirates 3-0 in a contest which lasted barely an hour but their second place finish was not enough to carry them to the semi-finals.
The Indians completed their five-team Group 'A' league engagements with seven points from four matches, just one point behind leader Saudi Arabia who romped into the quarter-finals.
Six teams -- China, Kazakhstan, Korea, Iran, Japan and hosts Qatar -- had got direct berths in the quarter-final while the champion team in each group will complete the line up in last eight stage.
While Saudi Arabia pipped India in Group 'A', the last league match between Taipei and Bahrain will determine the champion team in Group 'B'.
The Indians were under no pressure against UAE in their last league match as they showed good spiking and defensive skills to script an emphatic 25-12, 25-14, 25-19 at the Al-Rayyan Indoor Hall.
Tom Joseph played a stellar role for the Indians by scoring 16 points while Rajeev Raveendra was the second highest scorer with 11 points.
For UAE, Tammeem Badr was the notable performer scoring seven points and Alaslai Walid chipped in with five points.