Defending champions India were given a tough fight by hosts Pakistan but they kept their cool to retain the title in men's volleyball at the 9th SAF Games in Islamabad on Saturday.
The Indian spikers, who had won four of the five previous SAF summit clashes against their arch-rivals, faced some stiff resistance as they lost the second and third sets but rallied superbly to win 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-9, to record the first ever win against Pakistan on their home soil.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the bronze medal beating Bangladesh's challenge 25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 25-19 15-10.
The Indians began well and raced to a 17-8 lead in the first set threatening to run away with the match. But the defending champions began to make some silly mistakes in attack and defence allowing their opponents to come back into the match.
The Pakistani spikers took full advantage of the lack of coordination in the Indian ranks to take the second and third sets.
With the Indians under pressure, coach Sreedharan brought in Sanjay Kumar to bolster the attack and the move immediately began to pay off as the team went for an allout attack to win the fourth set and level the scores.
The champions did not look back from there and took the decider with ease to retain the title they won in Kathmandu in 1999.
Expressing happiness, after his wards rallied from a set down to take the title, Indian coach Sreedharan said a few chances in the second set had affected the players rhythm but said they did well to come back in the fourth set.
"We have played a number of matches against Pakistan including final ties but this is the first time that we have beaten them in Pakistan," he said.
Sreedharan was all praise for his attacking trio of Subba Rao, Tom Joseph and Sanjay Kumar saying their all-round performance was instrumental in the country's victory.
He said some of the Pakistani players also had the experience of playing in the professional league and with veteran setter Irfan Nawaz controlling the game the Indians had a tough time.
Pakistan's Brazilian coach gave full credit to India's Subba Rao for his all-round performance today.
"He is so tall and was able to attack all zones and we could not hold him."
"Moreover, I have been with the team only for about 40 days now and the team has now put forward its first step. Our players also gave at least 15 points serving wide on a number of occasions," he said.
