Indian spikers lose opening match

The Indian volleyball team lost its opening encounter to hosts South Korea in a Group A match in the 14th Asian Games in Busan on Wednesday.

The Indians went down 22-25, 17-25, 25-27 in a match that lasted about 85 minutes.

The Koreans were better in attack in the first set which went to the wire. Y Subba Rao stood out for India in both attack and defence while both M S Rajesh and Tom Joseph were found lacking in the blocks.

With Jobi Joseph striking form and captain Ravikanth chipping in well in attack in the second set, India took the lead initially, but they failed to keep the up tempo as the Koreans, egged on by the home crowd, came back strongly to win it 25-17 and go 2-0 up.

India put up a spirited performance in the third set, with Jobi Joseph in full flow, scoring valuable points. India matched the strong Koreans point for point but Hyun Yeo Oh, Korea's main scorer, always came to their rescue.

Korea finally won the game 27-25 on extra-points to pocket the match by a 3-0 margin.

India will take on Iran in their second group tie on Thursday.