Panaji: Indian men's volleyball team defeated Mozambique to brighten up its chances of winning a gold medal as only three teams are participating in this segment at ongoing Lusofonia Games here.
The Indian team, led by Rama Dhawaskar, defeated Mozambique 25-17, 25-21, 25-10. Today's victory has given a significant boost to the gold medal dream as the team has to fight Macau, comparatively a weaker opponent.
Only three nations -- India, Macau and Mozambique -- are vying for the medal. Indian smashers M Naveen Raja Jacob, G R Vaishnav and Navjit Singh outperformed others in the match defeating the efforts put in by Carriere Luis Miguel and Nuvunga Fernando of the rival team.
Mozambique team's head coach Jose Efrain Solano Peraza attributed the poor performance to the "tiredness due to the time spent by the team in the flight to arrive in the host state".
"Guys tried their best to get into the match but the time spent in the plane was too much," he said. Team's captain Nuvunga Fernando said they tried their best but the result was not up to the mark. Jubilant Indian team manager Irvin Soares said that the efforts by players Prabhagaran, M Ukkrapandian, Navjit Singh and capitan Rama Dhawaskar finally paid off.
He stated that the performance was marvellous despite the fact that the team had little time to prepare. Indian team chief coach A Venkatesan said the focus would be on the next match against Macau, which is crucial to aim for the gold.
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