BAHRAIN powered to a dominant victory against the UAE in straight sets yesterday in the men’s volleyball tournament of the fourth GCC Games.
The kingdom’s senior men’s volleyball national team controlled the match from start to finish as they rolled to their second straight win with a comfortable 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-15) score line.
The nationals were spearheaded at Aspire Women’s Sports Hall by the strong play of Abdulla Mohammed Jaafar, Mahmood Abdulhussain, Mohammed Abdulla, Mahmood Alafyah, and Sayed Hashem Issa, amongst others, as Bahrain head coach Ivan Joksimovic from Montenegro was able to give ample time to rest for their other top stars including Hasan Alwarqaa, Ali Ebrahim, and Mahmoud Abdulwahed.
Midway through the first set, an Issa spike gave the Bahrainis a 16-13 lead. They then pulled away from there, with Jaafar and Abdulhussain supplying their last two points in the frame to secure the early match advantage.
In set two, a double block by Abdulhussain and Abdulla broke an 8-all deadlock, and further defensive gems from Issa, Jaafar, and Abdulla put the nationals ahead 19-13. Abdulhussain and Jaafar had back-to-back attacks for a 22-15 cushion, and then Abdulhussain delivered successive aces to push Bahrain further ahead at 24-15. Issa fired in the decisive smash that sealed the frame.
The Bahrainis rode their momentum into the third set where they took a quick 5-1 lead. They never looked back from there, and an Alafyah attack later made it 20-12. Consecutive spikes from Alafyah and Abdulla stretched the score to 24-14, and then Abdulhussain struck the knockout blow to end the match.
The kingdom’s spikers will be looking to wrap up their preliminary round schedule with a perfect record after three games when they face off with Asian giants and hosts Qatar tomorrow at 6.30pm, Bahrain time.
The Bahrainis are hoping to live up to their billing as one of the favourites for the crown in the Qatari capital, having emerged as back-to-back men’s volleyball champions in the first two editions of the GCC Games in 2015 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and in 2011 at home. They were then silver-medallists in the previous GCC Games held in Kuwait City, Kuwait, in 2022, when Qatar took gold and Oman won the bronze medals.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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