INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philipppines - Fancied teams South Korea and China hacked out contrasting victories to grab top spot in their respective divisions on Day 2 of the 15th Asian Seniors men?s volleyball championship at the San Andres Gym in Manila.

The Koreans, four-time winners of this tournament, outlasted Qatar with a 21-25, 25-14, 25-14, 39-41, 20-18 triumph for their second straight win in Pool D, while the Chinese, ranked eighth in the world, scored a thorough 25-11, 25-15, 25-14 victory over Hong Kong in just 59 minutes.

The win over Hong Kong, which came on the heels of the 25-14, 25-23, 25-14 crushing of Vietnam last Sunday, pushed the Chinese to the summit of Pool C.

Also posting its second straight victory was Indonesia, which overpowered Southeast Asian rival Thailand, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20, to seize the solo lead in Pool B.

Iran debuted with a come-from-behind 18-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-17 triumph over Sri Lanka for its first win in Pool C yesterday.

Defending champion Australia opened its title defense on a positive note by defeating Lebanon, 25-20, 25-18, 17-25, 25-23, in Pool D late Sunday night.

In the most enthralling match of the tournament so far, the Koreans prevailed after two hours and six minutes as the Qataris were slapped with a net violation on match point.

The Qataris battled through 17 deuce points in a 40-minute fourth set, before the Koreans finally yielded when Kim Yo-han?s smash went wide, setting the stage for the thrilling fifth-set.

The 6-foot-5 Kim was at the heart of the Korean assault, finishing with 30 points, built on a 24-of-48 clip on attacks and four blocks.

The Chinese? formidable power game was reflected in a 44-15 advantage in attacks and a 13-1 edge in service aces. No Hong Kong player scored more than four points and the entire team failed to register a point in blocks.

Meanwhile, the Philippines aims to stay in contention for a quarterfinal berth when it clashes with Kazakhstan at 2 p.m. today.

The Filipinos are looking to regain ground after a 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 17-15 defeat to Myanmar in its opening assignment Sunday night.

But they will have their hands full against a Kazakhstan squad whose average height is listed at 6-foot-6, six inches taller than the average height of the RP Team.

The Kazakhs have two 6-foot-11 players in Svyatoslav Miklashevich and Anton Yudin.

RP head coach Sammy Acaylar said his team is aching to bounce back from the loss to Myanmar.

?It was a very disappointing loss, but we?re leaving it behind and we?re all focused on our next match,? said Acaylar, whose team needs to win its two matches starting today to advance to the next round.