Manama, Bahrain, July 30, 2024 – Hosts Bahrain edged past Australia with epic tie-break win to scrape through to the Top Eight round of the 15th Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Championship at Isa Sport City Hall C here on Tuesday night.
The hosts needed to dig deep and go the distance in a nail-biting 3-2 (17-25, 36-34, 16-25, 25-20, 16-14) victory over Australia in their concluding Pool A assignment.
The win was their first of the tournament and it earned them enough points to secure their place in the top-tier championship’s next stage as runners-up in their pool round-robin preliminaries.
Winning the first set, but pushed to the limit in the second, the Australians regained control and took the 2-1 match advantage. However, the Bahrainis would not go down easily, and they showed their fighting spirit, sending the contest into a tie-break after beating the strong visitors in the fourth set.
There, both teams had their chances to pull away but Bahrain prevailed in the end. Jassim Madan broke a 14-all deadlock and then the Australians misfired to seal the game for the Bahrainis.
Ali Sultan had a team-high 20 points to spearhead the home team. Madan chipped in 18, while Sayed Hasan Al Abbar added 13.
Sionetupou Veamatahau paced the Australians with 27, while Hamilton Vincent and Jack Renner each had 13 points.
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