India men's volleyball team created history as they beat giants South Korea in their opening game in Asian Games 2023 on Wednesday, September 20. India recorded a thrilling 3-2 win to stun the silver medalist of the last edition to finish day 2 of the Hangzhou Games on a high note for the nation.
India featured in three sports Rowing (both men's and women's events), Modern Pentathlon and Volleyball (men) on Wednesday. It was a decent performance from Indian athletes in rowing while Maynak Chaphekar finished 28th (out of 29 players) in the modern Pentathlon. But the men's hockey team finished Day 2 with a remarkable win over favourites Republic of Korea by 3-2 at Linping Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Playing in the preliminary round, the India men's volleyball team lost the first set by a narrow margin of 25-27 but quickly made a comeback by winning the second set by 29-27. They also won the following set by 25-22 to take a 2-1 lead but South Korea pulled off a dominating 25-20 win in the fourth set to emerge as favourites to finish. But India sealed a 17-15 win in the fifth set to clinch a historic 3-2 win.
For India, Amith registered the highest 24 points while skipper Vinit Kumar and Rai Ashwal contributed 19 points each. Indian team is placed in Pool C and two teams from each pool will qualify for the Cross Match for the Top 12.
In rowing, Indian teams featured in eight different events on Wednesday. India men's team finished second in the Quadruple Skulls Heat 2 race with a time of 06:16:66 behind China and qualified for repechage after the latter's entry in the final at Fuyang Water Sports Centre. In the women's event Eight Preliminary Race, India finished fourth out of five positions with a finish of 06:41:37 and qualified for the Final A.
