Naypyitaw (Myanmar), Aug 6 (IANS): India entered the quarter-finals of the Men's U23 Asian Championships volleyball held in Myanmar despite a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Thailand in a hard-fought contest in their last Group D fixture.

The Indian team secured a berth in the final eight of the tournament on account of topping their group that included New Zealand and China apart from Thailand. This is the first time the team has progressed into the last eight in the tournament's history.

Earlier, the Amit Gulia led team had registered wins over China and New Zealand, which allowed them to finish with 6 points at the end of Group D fixtures.

Apart from India, China was the other team to make it to the top eight of the tournament. Despite equal number of points as India and China, Thailand couldn't progress to the next round and will be playing in the classification round for 9th-16th places.

India will now play two matches against Kazakhstan and Japan in the classification round for 1st to 8th places before their quarter-final fixture.