India lock horns with S Africa in Semi,Aussies to take on Pak

Kolkata, Aug 02 (UNI) India beat Australia in a high voltage four-setter 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 27-25 in 96 minutes to emerge top in Group A and take on South Africa in the semifinal tomorrow.

After a disappointing defeat in the first set, India bounced back strongly to win the second one. At one stage in the second set, India looked all set to wrap it up comfortably when they led 11-7.

But Australia rallied hard to lead by 16-15 during the second technical time-out. But once again some quality spikes Gurchand Singh and Kapil Dev helped India take the set 25-21.

The third set was a roller coaster ride, but the Indian spikers, egged on by home support managed to scrape through 25-23.

In the fourth set, Australia rode through the Indian defence to take an 18-13 lead. But thanks to some poor spikes from the visitors and quality rally from the hosts, India won the decider even after trailing 24-25. It was Sanjay Kumar's smash that turned out to be India's penultimate point. He was also the highest scorer with 22 points.

However, there were some poor serves from both teams throughout the match. Australia will now face Pakistan in the other semifinal.

India's coach G.Sridharan said, ''We were a little sloppy mid way through the match and our blocks were not coming off well. But in the end we pulled it through.'' Russel Borgeaud, his Aussie counterpart, admitted that his team was erratic. ''We made too many errors. We floundered in serves and spikes. We paid the price. India were the better side today.'' Meanwhile, defending Champions Canada at last had something to cheer about when they defeated New Zealand in straight sets today to register their first win of the tournament today. Canada won the first edition of the tournament 26 years ago in London.

Canada beat New Zealand 25-10, 25-15, 25-16. For the first time in the tournament the team lived up to their top billing playing near perfect volleyball with their spikers, defenders and passers in absolute harmony.

Louis-Pierre Mainville, the lone world cupper on the side, was in prime touch going for 8 kills and four block that counted.

While Canada walloped up the Kiwis in 18 mins in the first set, the islanders gave some resistance in the next two sets but a non-functional libero and poor overhead passes meant they won few points and Canada romped home in 58 minutes. Tomorrow Canada will play for the fifth/sixth spot.

In another match Sri Lanka won 25-15, 21-25, 25-17, 19-25,15-13 against Nigeria. Nigeria, who won silver in the London edition of the championship, finished with all lose record.

UNI