Bangkok, Thailand, March 12, 2023 – Qatar’s Police SC and Al Rayyan SC overcame strong challenges from their respective rivals to capture hard-fought wins, as hosts Jordan’s Shabab Al-Hussain registered their first victory following the straight-set encounter against Palestine’s Al Nabi Elias in the 1st West Asia Men’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Sports Palace Hall in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on Saturday.
Police SC
Contesting the pool round-robin preliminaries, Police SC, fresh from the sensational 3-0 win against Jordan’s Wehdat Club the previous day, clinched the comfortable first two sets 25-13, 25-18 in their third match against Oman Club on Saturday.
However, the Omani side turned up heat on the tough rivals, unleashing fierce attacks and solid blocks to take the next two sets 29-27, 25-21, forcing a tie-breaker to determine the eventual winners.
The decider was hotly-contested, with both teams pouring everything to win the set and match. However, Police SC, former four-time Qatar Volleyball League champions and silver medallists at the 2015 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Club Championship, fared better in the home stretch to narrowly edge past Oman Club 17-15 for the set and the close match.
Following the victory, Police SC moved atop the Pool A standing with 6 points from 2 wins against one loss to Kuwait SC, with Oman Club collecting 4 points from one win against one loss. Kuwait SC have yet lost, but had only 2 points from their very first match in the tournament against Police SC. Al Wehdat Club lost them all in two matches for no point awarded.
Al Rayyan SC
Meanwhile, in Pool B, Qatar’s powerhouses Al Rayyan SC on Saturday bagged two consecutive wins in the inaugural tournament following their hard-fought four-set 25-21, 24-26, 25-22, 25-22 victory against Iraq’s South Gas.
It was a repeated feat achieved by Al Rayyan SC, which also outplayed South Gas with the same margin 3-1 in the classification round for the 5th-8th places at the last year’s Asian Men’s Club Championship in Iran.
Al Rayyan SC, which struggled to beat Bahrain’s Dar Kulaib 3-2 on Friday, are due to take on Jordan’s Shabab Al-Hussain on Sunday.
The Jordanian side on Saturday pulled off a scintillating straight-set 25-20, 25-16, 25-20 win against Palestine’s Al Nabi Elias for their first victory in this topflight championship.
After the first three-day preliminaries, South Gas had 6 points from 2 wins against one loss, while Al Rayyan SC won them all to have 5 points from two straight wins. Dar Kulaib collected 4 points from one win against one loss, with Shabab Al-Hussain and Al Nabi Elias getting 3 points and no point respectively.
On Sunday, Kuwait Club are due to play their second match in the tournament against Oman Club, which aimed for their second win out of three contested so far. The other two matches on the same day sees South Gas pitted against Dar Kulaib and Al Rayyan SC play Shabab Al-Hussain.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
MATCH SCHEDULE
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation