Incheon, Oct 1 (IANS): A valiant Indian men's volleyball team faltered in the last two sets to lose to Japan in the quarter-finals of the 17th Asian Games at the Songnim Gymnasium here Wednesday.
The Indian team was leading 2-1 till the third set and a huge upset was in the offing. But the defending champions, Japan came back strongly to take the final two sets.
The Indian team started the match on a positive note, winning the first 25-20. But the top seeded Japanese came back strongly to equalise with a 25-19 victory in the second set.
The Indians played out of their skins to prevail 25-23 in the third set to shock their opponents but seemed to lose steam and went dowen in the next two sets 20-25, 13-15.
India will now play the semi-final for the fifth-eighth classification match.