India recover from two sets down to beat Qatar 3-2 and reach Asian Games quarterfinals
India recovered from two sets down to beat Qatar 3-2 in the men’s volleyball competition at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, and advanced to the quarterfinals. The match ended 26-28, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20, 24-22 and lasted two hours and 47 minutes.
The victory completed an unbeaten Pool C campaign for India, who finished top of the group with three wins from three and earned a place in the quarterfinals on Thursday, with their opponent yet to be confirmed. With both sides already assured of progression, the final pool match was effectively about deciding who would finish top of Pool C. Qatar had entered the last Pool C match unbeaten after beating Hong Kong 3-1 in their opener.
Qatar looked firmly in control early, edging two extremely tight opening sets to open a 2-0 lead. They took the first set 28-26 and the second 27-25 after India failed to convert chances in both. That left India requiring three straight sets to keep their campaign alive.
India responded by winning the third set 25-23 and producing their most convincing volleyball of the match to take the fourth 25-20 and level the contest at 2-2. The shift in momentum set up a decisive fifth set that turned into a tense confrontation. The match narrative moved from Qatar dominance in the opening stages to an extended battle for the winner.
The fifth set saw India survive nine match points before finally closing out the contest 24-22. At 23-22 India remained under enormous pressure, having already fended off multiple match points. John Joseph’s blocking then came to the fore as India won the final two points to complete the comeback.
Jerome Vinith finished as India’s top scorer with 27 points, Amit Singh Balwan added 24 and Joel Benjamin Jebaraj contributed 17. On the Qatar side, 13-year-old Musa Mubarak continued to cause problems and finished with 40 points. Those individual tallies were central to a match that featured prolonged momentum swings.
India had opened their Asian Games campaign with a straight-sets win over Vietnam, taking that match 25-23, 25-21, 25-20; the victory was completed in one hour and 24 minutes. They followed that with another 3-0 result against Hong Kong China, winning 25-22, 25-19 and 25-21 to remain unbeaten through the pool stage.
India now move into the knockout stage with their quarterfinal scheduled for October 1. The four men’s volleyball quarterfinals will be played on Thursday.