Anusree Poyilil Kambrath of India
SOORYA SOORYA added more meaning to the position of middle blocker as India streaked to a 25-19, 25-13, 25-16 over Chinese-Taipei on Thursday to remain unscathed in two matches in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Challenge Cup for Women at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
“I’m feeling very happy that we won, and we are hoping that we can get more wins,” said the 6-foot Soorya who had eight blocks in India’s second straight victory in the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation headed by Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
“My teammates are very supportive and our coaches and the Indians in the audience were very supportive,” added Soorya after the one-hour and 20-minute match that drew a good crowd of Indian expats.
“This time, we’re going to win this tournament,” she added, referring to India finishing fourth in last year’s Challenge Cup in East Java, Indonesia.
Soorya had seven hits for 15 points while Kambrath Anusree scattered 13 points — all attacks — in the Pool A match of the tournament supported by Meralco, PLDT, Smart, Akari, AyalaLand, Nuvali, Foton, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Mikasa, Senoh, Asics, Maynilad, Makati Shangri-La, Rebisco, Cignal, OneSports, OneSports+ and Pilipinas Live.
Up next for India are the Alas Pilipinas — who played Australia Thursday night— at 7 p.m. on Friday.
“Playing against the home team is very difficult because the audience support will go to the Philippines,” Soorya said. “But we will try to overcome that.”
Chinese-Taipei remained winless in two matches.
Earlier on Thursday, Hong Kong bounced back from opening day loss by repulsing Indonesia, 25-22, 26-24, 25-18, to level its record to 1-1 won-lost in Pool B.
Hong Kong yielded to defending champion Vietnam, 13-25, 17-25, 16-25, on opening day Wednesday.
The other matches on Friday pits Iran against Chinese-Taipei at 10 a.m. in Pool A and Kazakhstan meets Vietnam at 1 p.m. and Singapore clashes with Indonesia at 4 p.m. in Pool B.
