New Delhi: Pakistan blanked India 3-0 to enter the Asian Games semi-final for only the second time in history. The team, led by Jehan Murad, won 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 to take the match in 1 hour and 22 minutes at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium in Aichi on Thursday. Pakistan last made the Asian Games semis at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta where they ended up with a bronze medal. India had won a silver medal in that edition.
The result also completed Pakistan’s hat-trick of wins over India at the Asian Games. They beat India 3-1 in a 7–12 classification match at the 2018 Games and 3-0 in the 2023 Hangzhou Asiad in the fifth-place classification match.
India entered the knockout stage unbeaten in three matches after an impressive run through Pool C. After opening the tournament with successive 3-0 victories over Vietnam and Hong Kong, India secured a memorable win over Qatar, coming back from 0-2 down to win 3-2 (26-28, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20, 24-22) in a match that lasted over three hours. .
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Pakistan, meanwhile, were the second-placed team in Pool A. They began their campaign with victories over Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan but were beaten 3-0 by hosts Japan in their final pool match.