JAKARTA, Sept 5: Australia and China kept their winning run by recovering to beat their respective pool rivals while Kazakhstan outclassed Pakistan in the 14th Asian volleyball championship.

Kazakhstan displayed an impressive performance to thrash Pakistan 3-0. In the first set Kazakh spikers took the lead through powerful spikes before taking the set 25-21.

Encouraged by the first set win, Kazakhstan penetrated Pakistan defence and led throughout the second set to claim it 25-17. In the third and final set the visiting spikers kept their domination to grab the set 25-18 and thus the match 3-0.

Pakistan will play their next match against archrivals India.

Meanwhile, in other matches played at the championship, Australia made a fine comeback to defeat Korea in a five-set match while China, one of the strong teams in Asia, had to try their utmost to overcome Thailand, also in five sets.

In Pool F, Australia maintained their perfect record in the championship with a 3-2 victory over Korea with set scores of 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-21, 20-18.

In the other match of the pool, defending champions Japan bounced back to beat Iran 25-22, 28-26, 25-14 to record their first victory in the second round.

In Pool E, Thailand, ranked 34, almost made a big surprise when they fought for five sets before losing the thriller against the 16-ranked powerhouse China 2-3.

Chinese Taipei silenced the home crowd when they beat hosts Indonesia 3-2 in a Pool E tie 25-17, 17-25, 33-31, 21-15, 18-16. –Agencies