IRAN and India defeated separate opponents to salvage a possible fifth place finish at the start of the classification phase of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Challenge Cup for Women at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday.
The Iranians, who finished the Pool A action with 1-3 win-loss record, survived first two sets before winning over Hong Kong, 26-24, 26-24, 19-25, 25-19, to get a shot for fifth place in the weeklong tournament hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).
Opposite hitter Aytak Samatgharamaleki scattered 26 points, 24 on attacks, while Reyhane Karimi added 14 points, highlighted with eight blocks, Hassankhani Shagyahegh had 14 points and Zahra Hedieh delivered 12 kills to lead Iran.
“Hong Kong is great today and it’s great for us that we played them,” Samatgharamaleki said, adding that India is going to be a tough opponent on Wednesday battle for fifth. “India is a great team. I hope we can do our plans and we should win that game.”
The competition is backed by Meralco, PLDT, Smart, Akari, AyalaLand, Nuvali, Foton, POC, PSC, Mikasa, Senoh, Asics, Maynilad, Makati Shangri-La, Rebisco, Cignal, OneSports, OneSports+ and PilipinasLive.
India, ended the Pool A action with 2-2 record, beat Indonesia, 25-16, 30-32, 25-20, 27-25, earlier behind Kambrath Anusree’s 21 points — including 19 kills — and middle blocker Soorya Soorya’s 16 attacks and two blocks for 18 points.
“Indonesia played well today. We focused on our defense and reception. They gave so much fight for us,” Jini Kovat Shaji, team captain of India, said.
