Lankan spikers beat lanky Australians 3-0 to enter quarter-finals

The spirited Sri Lanka Youth volleyball team beat Australia by three sets to nil in a Pool ‘A’ preliminary round match on the second day of the 2014 Asian Youth Volleyball Championship, which was played at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium Courts, Colombo on Saturday.

Sri Lanka’s Vinod Maduranga Peiris (12) smashes for a points through Australia’s Mcainsh Conal.

Sri Lanka’s Rehan Madusanka Fernando smashes one as the Australians go up in cover in the Pool ‘A’ match between Sri Lanka and Australia in the Asian Youth Volleyball Championship match at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium Courts, Colombo yesterday. Sri Lanka beat Australia by three sets to nil.

It was remarkable performance by the Lankans, who were short in stature in comparison to the Australians, who had the height advantage. It was a superb team work that brought this stunning victory which was the hosts’ second consecutive win in the penultimate game of the day after they had defeated Soudi Arabia by 3-nil on the first day.

With this back to back wins, Sri Lanka topped the Pool ‘A’ defeating Saudi Arabia and Australia. The hosts have already booked the place in the quarter-final stage with one match remaining in the preliminary round as they will take on Kazkhstan on Monday at 4pm. A win against Kazkhstan will give Sri Lanka an unbeaten record in the Pool stage.

The Lankan centre player Chamika Sandaruwan of Davisamara Vidyalaya played an all-round game with setting the pace for the other players, who took the advantage of it to smash for points.

The Sri Lanka team led by Shehan Bandara of Josep Vas College, Wennappuwa , won the first set by 25-19 after leading from the first point, which scored by skipper himself from a lightning strike. Captain Bandara smashed again to make it 2-0. Since then, Sri Lanka led the first set until they finished it at 25-19.

Sri Lanka beat Saudi Arabia by 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-19)
Australia beat Kazakhstan by 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-8)
Chinese Taipei beat Hong Kong by 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-16)
China beat Maldives by 3-0 (25-8, 25-8, 25-4)
Korea beat Turkmenistan by 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-20)

Iran beat Qatar by 3-0 (25-6, 25-12, 25-13)
India beat Bahrain by 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-23)
Chinese Taipei beat Maldives by 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-9)
China beat Hong Kong by 3-0 (25-5, 25-14, 25-20)
Sri Lanka beat Australia by 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-22)

Saudi Arabia vs Kazkhstan (Pool ‘A’) at 10am
Iran vs India (Pool ‘B’) at 12 noon
Qatar vs Bahrain (Pool ‘B’) at 2pm
China vs Chinese Taipei (Pool ‘C’) at 4pm
Korea vs Japan (Pool ‘D’) at 6pm