Defending champions Brazil on Sunday ended India's incredible victory run at the World U-19 Volleyball Championship in the final, at Suphanburi in Thailand.

Brazil beat India 25-22, 26-24, 25-19 in the 71-minute encounter to win the title for the sixth time.

Indian coach G E Sridharan told PTI from Thailand that he was happy with the team's performance.

"We were rated as the underdogs, but the boys proved otherwise. We lost to a better team, ranked much higher than India."

Sridharan said better offensive and defensive tactics helped Brazil retain the title.

Brazilian coach Percy Oncken praised India's performance and said, "Indian players surprised all. After we lost in the league phase, we wanted to return the compliment.

It was better cohesion by my team which helped us win the title."

"We have been working hard for this result since April and are happy to have annexed the youth world title," he said.

Brazil is the reigning world champion in senior and junior volleyball.

India put up a spirited show, matching Brazil in every department of the game. But it was not enough to upset their rivals, for whom it was sweet revenge after the 21-25, 21-25, 25-22, 20-25 loss in the league phase of the championship.

India failed to raise their game at vital moments and looked a jaded lot after playing tough matches against Puerto Rico and Iran in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.

However, India did not yield any advantage to the Brazilians and matched them point for point.

The score line in the first two sets was indicative of the stiff fight put up by India.

Brazil could not take more than a two-point lead throughout the first two sets, which they won.

India also paid dearly for not holding onto their service games, a weakness that had surfaced in their earlier matches.

In the third set, the Brazilians coordinated better and their court coverage was excellent. The teams were level on 8-8, 11-11 and 17-17. Brazil then raised their level of play and reeled off four points in a row.

Alvesthiag Soares and Carvalho Danilo combined well to block Sanjay and Srikanth for points.

Once they went in to a 21-18 lead, the match was almost as good as over, though India did manage to collect two more points.