The squad is confident of reaching the semifinals as the event commences tomorrow at the Muang Thong Thani sports complex here.

The team that missed out the two previous editions had survived anxious moments as it was not cleared till the last minute before their arrival here as the clearance was at no cost basis to the government. The Volleyball Federation of India had decided to meet the cost.

India face a herculean task with China, Japan and South Korea the dominant forces in Asia. Pitted in Group B, the Indian team has to come up with an impressive performance if they have to make it to the semi-final league.Both China and Japan have been pitted in the same group with the other teams being Kazakhastan, Pakistan and Iran. The first two matches would definitely be tough encounters played without a break and India should come out with an extraeffort to cause an upset.

However, the team management is upset as the group released earlier was entirely different and according to which India was to have met the formidable ones only after the qualifying league encounters.