DAY 3 WRAP-UP
Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2023 – The action-packed quarterfinal pools are set for the 2023 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in two halls of Issa Bin Rashid Gymnasium in Bahrain hosting this topflight eight-day competition.
Top contenders Suntory Sunbirds from Japan, Korean Air Jumbos Pro-Volleyball Club, Shahdab Yazd of Iran and Police Sports Team of Qatar, all of whom had earlier secured their qualification to the next phase prior to Tuesday’s play, were joined in the elite eight by Indonesia’s Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi, Kuwait Sporting Club, Bayankhongor Crownd Geo VC from Mongolia and South Gas Sports Club of Iraq.
Bahrain’s Al-Ahli Sport Club were unceremoniously eliminated from further title contention despite winning their final assignment of the preliminary round against Australia’s Canberra Heat.
Jakarta Bhayangkara sealed the hosts’ fate with a stunning victory against the Korean Air Jumbos, which also earned the Indonesians first place in Pool A. Shahdab topped Pool B, the Sunbirds were first in Pool C and Police led Pool D.
The Sunbirds and Bayankhongor are in quarterfinal Pool E along with Jakarta Bhayangkara and Jumbos, while Pool F features Shahdab, South Gas, Police and Kuwait Sporting Club.
The remaining eight sides are Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force of Thailand, Khaypil Sports Club of Yemen, Al-Ahli and Canberra Heat in Classification Pool G along with Taichung Bank of Chinese Taipei, Kam Air of Afghanistan, Atyrau VC of Kazakhstan and Aspiring Volleyball Team from Hong Kong, China in Classification Pool H.
Al-Ahli completed their preliminary round campaign with a resounding 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-20) victory over their Aussie rivals. The Bahrainis were in control from the opening serve and earned their second win of the tournament to go to five points on the Pool A standings, but it was not enough to send them through.
Brazilian Gabriel Candido scored 21 points to spearhead the Al-Ahli cause, while Mohammed Yaqoob had eight and Ali Alsairafi seven. Kevin Phang and Trent O’Dea finished with nine points apiece to pace Canberra Heat in their third straight defeat.
In Jakarta Bhayangkara’s big win over Korean Jumbos in Tuesday’s other Pool A fixture, Farhan Halim put on an impressive 24-point effort to help lift his club against their heavily favoured opponents. The Indonesians needed a win to ensure their spot in the next stage along with the Koreans, and they delivered superbly with a 3-1 (30-28, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21) result.
Mohammadjav Manavinezhad added 21 and Ugandan Daudi Okello scored 17 for Jakarta Bhayangkara, while Im Donghyeok finished with 21 to pace Korean Jumbos.
Jakarta Bhayangkara’s Chinese head coach Jiang Jie commented: “It was a very tough game. Korea are a very good team. We earned a good result and I am very happy that we are working very hard.”
Mongolia’s Bayankhongor secured a hard-earned berth in the quarterfinal pools from Pool C following a stunning 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-15) sweep of Diamond Food of Thailand.
Bayankhongor came away with the full three points to add to the crucial point they previously earned in their five-set loss to Yemen’s Khaypil Sports Club on Sunday. That was enough to put them through ahead of the Thais, who finished with three points from their lone victory and two straight-set losses.
Batsuuri Battur had a game-high 24 points to spearhead the Mongolians, while teammate Bayarsaikhan Batsukh added 13.
Batsukh commented post-game: “Today’s match was very hard but we prepared very well last night. After our match with Japan yesterday, we trained again. We looked at the Thai positions very well and that helped us.
“Today we were all fighting together and talking with each other, and that helped us understand each other well.”
Also in Pool C, Japan’s Suntory Sunbirds, runners-up from last year’s tournament, completed a clean sweep of the preliminaries with a resounding 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-15) victory over Yemen’s Khaypil. For the second straight game, the Japanese opted to rest some key players but were still dominant.
Cuban Alain Junior de Armas, who was one of the key Sunbirds players not to play in Tuesday’s fixture, expressed encouragement in his team’s strong showing so far in Bahrain.
“Today we finished the pool games and we had great victories,” he said. “We are expecting to do the same thing [in the next round] – play good and win every game.
“After these three games, we know we are at a good level, but we did not expect these teams to be easy. We were expecting more of a battle, but we will see this later this week when we play some of the other favourites.”
Chinese ace Peng Shikun and Kenshin Kuwada had 10 points apiece to pace the Sunbirds. Russian star Dmitriy Muserskiy added nine points in his limited time on the court. The Egyptian pair of Amr Elawwad and Essa Elhossiny scored 10 points apiece for Khaypil in the loss.
In Pool B, Iraq’s South Gas secured their elite eight status after defeating Kam Air VC of Afghanistan 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-19). The Iraqis claimed their second win of this stage with one loss for six points, and they finished behind Shahdab on the group table.
Russian Aleksandr Petrov and Bulgarian Todor Skrimov scored 15 points apiece for the winners, while three players had 10 each for Kam Air, namely Mohammed Wardak, Ghulam Rasool Hidari and Sayed Habib Yousufi.
Shahdab completed their three-game sweep of Pool B with a commanding 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-20) decision against Taichung Bank of Chinese Taipei.
Meisam Salehi scored 15 points to lead the Iranians while Mohammad Sadeghi chipped in with 10 as Shahdab improved to a maximum nine points atop their group table. Chang Yu-Sheng scored nine to pace Taichung, which suffered their second loss to finish on three points.
In Pool D, Qatar’s Police beat Aspiring Volleyball Team of Hong Kong, China 3-0 (25-16, 25-6, 25-22).
Papemaguette Diagne scored 13 points and Estonian Oliver Venno had 11 to lead the victors, who topped their group with nine points and an unbeaten record. Wai Lumg Lam was Aspiring’s top man with 11 markers.
Kuwait Sporting Club were also victorious against Kazakhstan’s Atyrau, which put up some resistance in a 3-0 (30-28, 27-25, 25-21) result.
Iranian Saber Kazemi had a scintillating 29 points for the Kuwaitis, while Liu Libin from China added 15. Vitaliy Vorivodin scored 13 for the Kazakhs.
Wednesday, May 17 is a rest day for the teams and action in the quarterfinals and classification for 9th-16th places resume on Thursday.
QUARTERFINAL POOLS
POOL E: Suntory Sunbirds (Japan), Bayankhongor Crownd Geo VC (Mongolia), Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi (Indonesia), Korean Air Jumbos Pro-Volleyball Club (Korea)
POOL F: Shahdab Yazd (Iran), South Gas Sports Club (Iraq), Police Sports Team (Qatar), Kuwait Sporting Club (Kuwait)
CLASSIFICATION POOLS
POOL G: Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force (Thailand), Khaypil Sports Club (Yemen), Al-Ahli (Bahrain), Canberra Heat (Australia)
POOL H: Taichung Bank (Chinese Taipei), Kam Air (Afghanistan), Atyrau VC (Kazakhstan), Aspiring Volleyball Team (Hong Kong, China)
MATCH RESULTS
TEAM RANKINGS
MATCH SCHEDULE
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