Patrik Indra starred for Czechia, firing 29 points to lead his team past China, 26-24, 25-19, 25-18, and punch their ticket to the Round of 16 in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Thursday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Tasked with a mission to win in straight sets to advance in the triple tie at 2-1 in Pool H, Indra delivered a masterclass, registering 23 kills, four blocks, and two aces. Czechia will now face Pool A leader Tunisia on Tuesday in the knockout stage.
“Yesterday, we went to sleep thinking we would need just two sets to advance to the next round. In the morning, we found out that we needed to win 3-0, so the situation really changed for us. It was kind of a tough afternoon and not such a nice sleep,” Indra admitted.
“But we said to ourselves: we need to go point by point, don’t think about the 3-0 result. And we did it nicely from the first set.”
Jan Galabov contributed 11 points while Antonin Klimes added 10 as Czechia completed a dominant sweep, eliminating idle Brazil from the Round of 16 on superior set ratio.
Serbia topped the pool, winning the tiebreak in point ratio, and will face Iran—who famously handed the Philippines a heartbreaking fifth-set loss—later on Thursday.
China, meanwhile, ended its campaign without a win.
Wang Bin was the lone double-digit scorer with 12 points, unable to prevent the sweep.
#WATCH: Patrik Indra says needing a 3-0 win made all the difference, but he’s glad Czechia pulled through 🏐🇨🇿
📹 @seol_gongchan /Tiebreaker Times#MWCH2025 pic.twitter.com/qilAZqi39L
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) September 18, 2025