LAHORE, July 15: Pakistan notched up a fine win over arch rivals India and breezed into the semi-finals of the 9th Al-Rashid volleyball championship in Dubai, according to information made available by Pakistan Volleyball Federatio (PVF) on Saturday.

The green shirts caused sensation by halting their much confident rivals who after winning the first set dreamed of an easy win..

But Pakistan repaired the opening set loss 24-26 to wrap up the match with sterling show in remaining three sets 25-21, 25-21, 25-19.

It was Pakistan's second success in the tournament after their hard earned 3-2 win over hosts United Arab Emirates.

Going down in a closely-fought first set, Pakistan fought back gallantly to pull level through the fine efforts of captain Mohammad Zaman Butt and Zaheer Abbas.

Continuing to step up the pace, Pakistan spikers put up another splendid display in the third set to go 2-1 up in the match, Naseer Ahmed the stand-out in this set.

With the encounter still intriguingly poised, Pakistan fought hard in the fourth set and rode on the good work of Kashif and Zaheer Abbas to wrap up a memorable win.

It was Pakistan's second victory over the Indians this year, having beaten them 3-2 at the Asian Central Zone Volleyball Championship at Colombo in March.

They will now face France on Sunday in their last league match and are confident of finishing atop Pool A.—APP