Indian men's team in semifinals of Sepaktakraw Super Series

The Indian men's sepaktakraw team came back from behind to eke out a thrilling win over Iran and storm into the semifinals of the World Super Series here today.
The team of Akash Singh, Sandeep Kumar and G Jiteshor Sharma defeated the Iranians 3-1 (9-15 15-11 17-16 15-10) to book a semi-final spot against second seeds Malaysia, who defeated Singapore 3-0 to claim their place in the last four.
India, seeded fifth in the tournament, thus took one step closer to finishing in the top three of ISTAF Super Series.
The semifinals and final will be held tomorrow at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here.

Despite losing the first set, India showed they meant business when they led from the start to the end of the second set.
A series of errors in the third set saw the Iranians take an 11-5 lead, until Akash unleashed his arsenal of spikes to level the score at 12-12.

Both teams traded points until the explosive striker Akash settled the set with a spike to give the Indians a narrow 17-16 win. It was all over for Iran in the fourth set as India, cheered on by a vocal crowd, lead from 2-2 right up to the end.

"It was an outstanding win for us as Iran played very well. The team played with full confidence and we knew from the start that we would be playing in the semi-final," said coach Hemraj.
In the women's competition, India suffered their fourth loss on the trot, this time falling 16-14, 15-12, 13-15, 13-15, 13-15 to Japan in the playoff to determine 5th/7th placing.
The women's trio of Kh Omita Devi, Chaoba Devi and Bijata Chanu did well to win the first two sets, but Japan battled their way back and won the remaining three sets.