Four teams have secured their place in the top eight while all others still have plenty to play for after the second day of preliminary round action yesterday in the 2023 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, being hosted by Bahrain.
Among those who have already punched their tickets to the quarter-final pools are South Korea’s Korean Air Jumbos Pro-Volleyball Club, the Suntory Sunbirds from Japan, Shahdab Yazd of Iran and Police Sporting Club of Qatar.
Four others kept their hopes of advancing alive after claiming their first wins. They include Thailand’s Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force, South Gas Sports Club from Iraq, Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi of Indonesia and Atyrau VC of Kazakhstan.
Bahrain’s Al Ahli also still have a chance of going through, despite losing to their Korean counterparts in an exciting clash that brought last night’s play to a close.
Determined
The full roster of eight that will be marching forward and continuing their title bids will be determined tonight, as the preliminaries wrap up at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
The matches are scheduled to begin from 11.30am and continue until the night, with the last games scheduled to start no earlier than 7pm. Entrance is free of charge and all are invited to attend.
Korean Air Jumbos showed their class in their Pool A clash with home team Ahli, staving off a late charge by the Bahrainis to triumph 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-22). Jiseok Jung had a fine showing with 17 points as the Koreans’ leading scorer, while Donghyeok Im chipped in with 14.
Cuban Yosvany Hernandez was Ahli’s only player in double figures with 11, while Nasser Anan had nine and Brazilian Gabriel Candido finished with eight points.
“It was a really difficult game,” said Jiseok. “We worried about Bahrain, but in the end our performance was as we had planned. The Bahrain team almost showed their colours, but we blocked them better and we were able to get this win.
“We came here to be champions; we know it’s not going to be easy but we have to learn game by game, and if we play how we have to, then the rest will come to us.”
Ahli’s Italian setter Davide Saitta admitted that they were outplayed, but added that they remain focused on winning their final game today in the hopes of moving forward in the competition.
“We faced a really good team,” said Saitta. “We lost some occasions in the second set when we were still point for point, but could not take the advantage. In the third set we came back, but they were stronger than us.
“There is no time to be sad (about the loss). Tomorrow, we will do the same routine of yesterday and today, and try to be more prepared and try to win.”
Japan’s Suntory Sunbirds opted not to field a full-strength squad against Bayankhongor Crownd Geo VC of Mongolia in Pool C but still comfortably disposed of their opponents 3-1 (25-11, 25-18, 17-25, 25-19).
Cuban ace Alain Junior de Armas had a game-high 23 points, while teammates Shikun Peng and Kenshin Kuwada added 10 points apiece as the Japanese claimed their second successive win. Nyamsukh Sukhee had 12 points to pace Bayankhongor, who have suffered back-to-back losses.
Sunbirds wing spiker Kenya Fujinaka said after the match: “The last set was really good for us today; it was a good experience to continue our performance to tomorrow’s game (against Yemen’s Khaypil Sports Club).
“It is not our goal just to reach the second phase. We have a different goal, so tomorrow’s game is very important for us to win as we go to the next round.”
Iranian volleyball giants Shahdab Yazd also maintained their undefeated record after two outings, sweeping past winless Kam Air VC of Afghanistan 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-18) in Pool B.
Shahdab enjoyed a balanced attack, with Malati Moham Sadeghi scoring 14 points to lead the way. Niazi Younes Ghelich added 13, Tavana Saeed Javaheri had 12 and Ragani Mehrda Babaei finished with 11 markers.
Qatar’s Police eased past Kuwait SC 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-14) in a Pool D fixture. Croatian Petar Dirlic was their top scorer with 13 points, while Turkish professional Efe Bayram added 10 markers. For the Kuwaitis, Mohammed Salem Alsuwaid scored eight points in the loss.
In Pool C, Evandro Dias De Souza spearheaded Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force to a hard-earned victory against Khaypil, keeping their hopes alive of the top eight. The Thais shrugged off a narrow first-set setback to defeat their opponents 3-1 (24-26, 25-17, 25-13, 25-21).
De Souza, from Brazil, scored a game-high 32 points, while compatriot Luiz Ferreira Perotto added 14 and Chaiwat Thungkham scored 13. For Khaypil, Essa Elhossiny scored 20 points while Gamal Khairalah chipped in with 14.
De Souza commented: “I think it was a great game. In the first set we played to win, but we gave them a chance at the last moment and we lost. But we kept our mind strong, and we were able to get the win.
“This was very crucial for us so we really needed to win it to have a chance to go to the quarter-finals. For us, it was like a final. We proved again that we are in good shape. We will do our best tomorrow to win once more.”
South Gas Sports Club bounced back from an opening day loss with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-14) sweep of Taichung Bank from Chinese-Taipei in Pool B. Bulgarian Todor Skrimov and Serbian Nikola Meljanac combined for 31 points, with Skrimov registering 16 markers.
Islam Sachit Challab Matraw added 11 for the triumphant Iraqis, who must now win their final fixture to qualify for the best eight. For Taichung, Yu-Sheng Chang put in a valiant individual effort of 16 points.
Claiming their first victory in Pool A were Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi of Indonesia, who breezed past Canberra Heat from Australia 3-0 (25-9, 25-23, 25-15). Farhan Halim had 14 points as their leading scorer while Hendra Kurniawan added 13. Matthew Aubrey had 16 points for the Aussies as he almost helped them steal away the second set.
Finally, Kazakh outfit Atyrau cruised past Aspiring Volleyball Team of Hong Kong 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-11) in Pool D to stay in the mix for the quarters pools. Slovakian Boris Kempa scored 13 points in the win while Bekarys Gabituly and Vitaliy Vorivodin each contributed 12 in the win. Hin Shing Tang was the top player for Aspiring with just six points.
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