Jiangmen, China, January 8, 2020 – In-form Qatar played exceptionally well in their tough match against Australia to pull off a scintillating straight-set 25-15 25-21 25-23 win in their second encounter at the AVC Men’s Tokyo Qualification 2020 at the Jiangmen Sports Centre Gymnasium here on Wednesday.
Geraldo Graciano Da Silver Filho chipped in with 14 points for Qatar including 11 attacks from 25 attempts, while Beau Graham led Australia with 7 points including 4 attacks and a team-leading 3 blocks.
Qatar came out in full force in the opening set against Australia, silver medallists at the last year’s Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Iran. Captain Ibrahim Ibrahim and Renan Ribeiro joined forces in penetrating the Australian defence with their spectacular attacks to help Qatar jump to an early 13-5 lead and widened it to 22-14, thanks largely to solid blocks from Ibrahim and Belal Nabel Abunabot. The Qataris won two points in a row to reach the set point 24-14. However, a serve from Abunabot went out and the Volleyroos narrowed the margin 15-24, but shortly after that Milos Stevanovic and Ibrahim efficiently blocked an aggressive spike from Samuel Walker to end the rivals’ challenge in the first set. Qatar took the set 25-15.
Things looked to be following form after the first set when Qatar remained in superb form. Although Australia had a 5-point clear to clinch an initial 7-2 lead in the second set, Qatar gradually pulled their game together, mixng the splendid offensive combinations of aggressive spikes from Geraldo Graciano Da Silva Filho and Ibrahim and scintillating blocks from Ibrahim and Abunabot to catch the tough rivals at 13-13 and surged ahead the fighting opponents 20-17 moments later. The Volleyroos upped their tempo, hoping to regain their form and prove that the win over Korea was no fluke, but their attempts did not pay their dividends as Qatar continued their brilliant run to claim the second set 25-21 to stretch it 2-0.
In the third set, Australia played without their key player Thomas Edgar, who competed in the Australian team at the 2012 London Olympics. Paul Sanderson and Lincoln Alexander Williams did a great job to steer the Volleyroos to a narrow 8-6 lead before the Qataris clawed their way back to catch up with the rivals, which captured the 2007 Asian title and 11th place at the last year’s FIVB World Cup in Japan, at 10-10.
From then, the battle became incredibly close, but Qatar remained on song. Geraldo Graciano Da Silver Filho marshalled his teammates defensively to help his team advance 19-17 and 23-20. Despite a strong challenge from the Volleyroos, Qatar still led commandingly 24-21, needing only one more point to capture the set and match. However, Australia hit back to come close at 23-24 before Ibrahim sealed the team win with a devastating attack. Qatar won the hotly-contested set 25-23 and match.
With two wins in a row with 6 points, Qatar enhanced their chances of making it to the semi-finals. The unbeaten Qataris are due to next take on Korea on Thursday, while Australia will play India in their last preliminary match.
Australia head coach Mark Lebedew: “Congratulations to Qatar. They were able to do all the things they planned to do. They were good at the net and we wouldn’t score at the net. Volleyball is about spiking but they didn’t spike today. Tomorrow’s gonna be tough as the future is not completely in our hands but we think we can control this. Let’s see how we respond to the situation.”
Australia captain Harrison Peacock: “We didn’t play very well and obviously wasn’t ready to play this morning. I am just disappointed about that but what we can do now is to prepare for the match against India tomorrow.”
Qatar head coach Camilo Andres Soto: “Australia is a very potential team and they are improving too much. As for us, playing two games in the morning in a row was not easy for players. I am satisfied with their performance today, especially in defense. And we will just keep doing like this. ”
Qatar captain Ibrahim: “It was a good play from our side at the beginning, that’s why we would win the game.”
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