Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, August 7, 2022 – In-form Bahrain made their debut AVC Cup for Men a great success in the 2022 edition at the Nakhon Pathom Provincial Gymnasium after powering past Chinese Taipei in convincing straight sets 25-18, 25-21, 25-16 in their opening Pool D clash on Sunday.
Chinese Taipei, most of them veteran players who competed in the gold medal-winning Taichung Bank Club at the 2015 Asian Men’s Club Championship, started the first set better and piled up a 6-3 lead, thanks to explosive attacks from left-hander Wu Tsung-Hsuan and Liu Hong-Jie.
Bahrain, silver medallists at the Kuwait-hosted Gulf Cooperation Council Games in May, gradually recovered and caught up at 12-12. From then on, the Bahrainis enjoyed the blocking spree to foil the Chinese Taipei’s attacking attempts to advance 19-16 and widen it to 23-17. An aggressive attack from Liu Hung-Min handed Bahrain a set point. Chinese Taipei saved one, but their delight did not last long when a serve from Lin Yi-Huei went wide. Bahrain took the first set 25-18.
Bahrain rolled on their rhythm to stay in front 12-9 in the second set. Chinese Taipei tried hard to regain their fine form, but their determined efforts were to no avail. The Bahrainis stormed on their brilliance, with Mohamed Anan on fire and Mohamed Aldawiri and Mahmood Alafyah producing solid blocks.
As Bahrain were seemingly going through the motion to lead 21-16 and stretch it to 23-18. Chinese Taipei came roaring back through exceptional attacks from Wu and Liu Hong-Jie to narrow the margin 20-24, but their attempts were short-lived as Bahrain allowed them only one more point from high-leaping Liu Hong-Jie’s lightning-fast spike before Naser Anan closed it out 25-21 after smashing the set winner.
The third set was still dominated by Bahrain as they played consistently and confidently. As Naser Anan and Mohamed Abdullah unleashed powerful attacks to ominously stamp their authority early in the set for the 20-13 lead, Chinese Taipei seemingly dropped from their best and had no answer for irresistible Naser, who pounded on his sharp attacks.
Bahrain left the rivals behind with a nine-point clear at 24-15, thanks to effective blocks from Mohamed Anan and Naser Anan. Kao Wei-Cheng overcame taller three blockers with his aggressive spike to save the day for Chinese Taipei, but Mohamed Aldawiri fired an off-the-block spike to completely end the rivals’ challenge. Bahrain captured the set 25-16 and match.
Naser Anan topscored with 14 points for Bahrain, while Mohamed Abdulla added another 11. Liu Hong-Jie scored a match-high 18 points including 12 attacks and 5 blocks on the Chinese Taipei’s losing attempts.
“My team played very well today and it was a nice job. Chinese Taipei are a strong team with the fourth place at the last year’s Asian Championship to their name. I’m so proud of my players. We try to finish it step by step and look forward to the next challenge,” Bahrain head coach Issanaye Ramiress Ferraz commented after the match.
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