DAY 5
Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2022 – The 2022 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship has reached its climax when unbeaten Peykan will rematch with Suntory Sunbirds in the highly-anticipated final clash of Titans at Azadi Hall on Friday.
The 2010 World Club bronze medalists Peykan and the Japan’s Premier League champions Suntory Sunbirds captured their victories against their respective rivals in the Thursday’s semifinals, with the former producing epic 3-1 comeback win against Kazakhstan National League champions Taraz VC and the latter brushing off Iran League winners Shahdab Yazd in dramatic four-setter.
Embattled Peykan on Thursday showcased a dose of grit through sensational blocking and a potent blend of attack and defence to win a fantastic 3-1 (34-36, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17) win against Taraz VC not only to move one step closer to winning their eighth Asian Club title but also hand the Kazakh outfit the disappointing loss to crash out of the title race.
For Peykan, the Friday’s showdown will be their eighth final in the Asian Club Championship. Their latest title dated back in 2011 in Indonesia when they stunned Kazakhstan’s Rahat Almaty 3-0 in the showdown.
In the final clash, Peykan are due to take on Suntory Sunbirds, which capped a hard-fought four-set 22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-21 win against determined Shahdab Yazd in the other semifinal encounter.
In terms of the country, Iran is defending and consecutive five-time Asian Club champions (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021), with Sirjan Foolad Iranian stunning Qatar’s Al-Arabi 3-1 to reign supreme in the previous edition one year ago in Thailand (The 2020 edition was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic).
So far, the Iranians have already captured 15 Asian Club titles. Among the Iran club teams winning this topflight competition, Peykan Tehran performed superbly to take the highest 7 titles (2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), Shahrdari Varamin (2014, 2019) and Sarmayeh Bank Tehran (2016, 2017) bagged 2 titles each, while Senam Tehran (2004), Kalleh Mazandaran (2013), Khatam Ardakan (2018), Sirjan Foolad Iranian (2021) claimed one title apiece.
On Friday, the last day of the one-week Championship, Suntory Sunbirds will rematch with Peykan, the team they had already beaten 3-1 in the preliminary Pool A encounter.
“We needed such pressure from a team to take the challenge to get ready for the finals. Taraz played very well. We are happy to win and are the finalists. We were good on our first balls and sideouts today”, Saeid Marouf, Peykan’s captain, said after the match.
“We played only one set and after that we were relaxed. Peykan taught us how a team should play. We had 3 wrong sets. My players lost their concentrations,” Boris Gerbennikov, head coach of Taraz VC, said.
Concerning the spectators and the host, he added, “Fans are always the seventh player for the team of Iran. If they play anywhere, the fans are always with them and cheering for them. Iran is very experienced in hosting many events including VNL, World Championships and Asian tournaments which all prove their ability in the good organization”.
The two semifinal losers, Taraz VC and Shahdab Yazd, will battle it out in the third-place playoff in what could be another revenge match as the Kazakhs had suffered 1-3 loss at the hands of the Iranian side in the preliminary Pool B encounter.
“Suntory Sunbirds deserved this victory. They were better than us tactically and they played as planned. My players failed to implement what I have said to them. They were all thinking of the finals instead of semifinals. I did my best to make them understand that semifinals are much more important than the finals”, said Alireza Tolookian, head coach of Shahdab Yazd.
Meanwhile, the 5th-8th playoff matches earlier saw Nakhon Ratchasima QminC of Thailand struggle to beat Iraq’s Erbil in see-saw battle 25-17, 25-13, 22-25, 25-18 to next fight for the 5th place against South Gas Sport Club.
“We are very happy that we participated in the tournament and were in the second four teams. We have plans for our match tomorrow, and we hope to win the match and get the fifth place,” Wanchai Tabwises, Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC captain, said.
“The Iraqi team had players who were stronger and better physically than our team, and they had a professional coach with them. Today we lost one set, but we tried to win this match, which in the end was the result of the game in favor of our team. We will try to get a better position for tomorrow and the game to make our fans happy”, Padejsuk Vannachote, Nakhon Ratchasima’s head coach, said.
Qatar’s Al-Rayyan Sports Club gallantly fought hard against South Gas to edge past the fighting Iraqis in thrilling four-setter 25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20. South Gas will face off with Erbil, the other winless team, in the 7th-8th playoff encounter, while Al-Rayyan and Nakhon Ratchasima will fight it out in the 5th-6th place on Friday.
“I am happy and congratulations to the Iraqi team, for their good preparation against us. We started the first set well, but we had problems during the game, but fortunately after the second set, we reunited and made up for our mistakes in the third and fourth sets.
“I am so sad in spite of this victory. I lost my friend yesterday and I am sad over it (while shedding tears). Today is his funeral. I award this victory to my best friend”, Zarko Ristoski, Al-Rayyan Sports Club head coach, said.
“I had a long trip from Brazil to Tehran and I tried to coordinate with the team in this short period of time. Our game had attractive rallies and of course some refereeing mistakes which was sometimes good and sometimes bad for us”, Evandro Dias De Souza, South Gas Sports Club best scorer, said.
Concerning the hosting, he added “This is my first experience in Asia and the hotel and food were good and everything we needed was available for us. I had no chance to visit Tehran because I did not have enough time.”
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