Spikers eye bronze after semi defeat to Pakistan

Bangladesh went down fighting in a straight-sets defeat against Pakistan in the second semifinal of the men’s volleyball event of the 13th South Asian Games at the Tripureshwar Covered Hall in Kathmandu yesterday.

Alipour Arozi’s men started the match poorly, losing the first set by a 25-15 margin before putting up a better show with a 25-21 defeat in the second set. The men in red and green gave Pakistan, one of the title-contenders, a run for their money in the third set, but eventually lost that too by 26-24 points. 

While Bangladesh will still have another chance for a medal, something that the volleyball team never managed in the Games’ history, when they take on Sri Lanka in the bronze-medal deciding match today. 

“Our boys were fearful of Pakistan and lost the first set poorly. But they did put up a fight, but without any result,” Arozi told reporters after the match.

“I would have been happy with a result, winning a set maybe. I hope we will win some sets against Sri Lanka,” the Iranian coach added.

However, the match against Sri Lanka will not be much easier as the islanders gave defending champions India a fight in a 3-1 sets defeat in the first semifinal yesterday. 

Bangladesh captain Horoshit Biswas was confident, though, about not passing up a second chance to win a medal.

“We will have a team meeting tonight where we will discuss our strategy and the mistakes from the last game. We will have to fight for the medal and we will do our best,” Horoshit said.