INCHEON: Pakistan went down 3-0 against Kuwait in their volleyball opening gro­up ‘B’ preliminary round mat­ch at Songnim Gymna­sium here on Saturday.

Though Pakistan lost the match in straight games, they did offer a stiff challenge in the first two games before fading away in the third and losing 25-22, 25-21, 25-16.

Watched by around 1,000 spectators, the opening game could have gone either way. But in the final minutes Kuwait shooters scored a couple of vital points to take 1-0 lead by winning it 25-22.

Pakistan having the services of three 6 ft 7 inch players in Mohib Rasool, Murad Jehan and Mohammad Idrees displayed brilliant shooting and blocking but the Kuwaiti spikers proved superior in the end.

Naseer Ahmed was Pakistan’s best scorer with ten points while Al-Salim Amer was the star perfomer for Kuwait with 13 points.

Kuwait team, enjoying the services of Croatian coach Radovan Malevic, won the second game 25-21 to consolidate their position. Playing with a lot of confidence, the Kuwait players demonstrated powerful shooting and wrapped up the decider 21-16 to coast to victory after the 84-minute tussle.

Pakistan play Japan on Sept 23 and take on Saudi Arabia on Sept 26.

Published in Dawn, September 21st , 2014