India won the second Asian Central Zone Volleyball Championship on Monday on better set-average after being tied on points with Iran and Kazakhstan.
The Indians lifted the trophy at the Liaquat Gymnasium in Islamabad on the last day of the championship that was contested by seven teams. Hosts Pakistan were beaten by Kazakhstan to end on fourth place.
In accordance with announcement of Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, who was the chief guest on the opening day, the winning team got Rs. 1.5 million as prize money from President of Pakistan Olympic Association, Lt. General Syed Arif Hasan, who was the chief guest on the final day matches.
India, Iran and Kazakhstan all scored five victories each and lost one match each but the Indian spikers won the title with better average of 1.58, edging past Iran (1.17) and third-placed Kazakhstan (1.10).
On the last day of the single-league championship, India beat Maldives 25-13, 25-14, 25-12 while defending champions Kazakhstan fought off a strong challenge from Pakistan to win 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 32-30.
In between these two matches, Sri Lanka downed Turkmenistan 22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-17.
Pakistan had chance to finish third with a victory over Kazakhstan, but they failed to get past their opponents.
Pakistani spikers Kashif Mansoor, Sanaullah, Naseer and skipper Muhammad Zaman toiled hard but just failed to carry the day. Pakistanis led 10-6 in the fourth game but Kazakhstan tied at 19-19 and then at 24-24.
In the tie-break, Pakistanis objected to a couple of decisions by the Maldivian referee but to no avail.
