Jiangmen, China, January 7, 2020 – Hefty Qatar got their Olympic dreams off to a brilliant start as the world No.33 put it past gallant India in thrilling three-setter 25-22 25-20 25-23 to capture their first victory at the AVC Men’s Tokyo Qualification 2020 at the Jiangmen Sports Centre Gymnasium here on Tuesday.
Geraldo Graciano Da Silva Filho scored a match-high 17 points for Qatar including 15 attacks from 28 attempts, while Jerome Vinith Charles topscored with 12 points for India. The tall Qataris made use of their solid blocks to earn 11 points, while India had only 5 block points.
Qatar fielded a formidable lineup spearheaded by the 206cm-tall Ibrahim Ibrahim and the 202cm hard-attacking Geraldo Graciano Da Silva Filho, while the 204cm G K S Ammai Akhin led the charge for India.
Both sides started the match with almost the same level which saw they fight tooth and nails, with the Qataris leading with a one-point clear at 11-10. Although India managed to keep composure, Qatar came up with efficient blocks led by Graciano Da Silva Filho and Belal Nabel Abunabot to widen the gap to 19-13. India tried to pull their game together, but any hope of a comeback was quickly dismissed with the Qataris penetrating the Indian defence with their powerful spikes to win the tough first set 25-22.
Holding a 1-0 advantage, Qatar moved on with their confidence boosted as they started strongly to jump to an initial 14-11 lead in the second set, but Jerome and Akhin brought the team back on track as they joined forces in attacking and blocking to help India meet the strong Qataris at 17-17. However, the rivals held their nerves and hit back aggressively for the 25-20 win in the set.
The third set was more thrilling as both teams played more carefully with confidence and consistency. The Indians regained their form and unleashed a barrage of good attacks, but it was not enough to hold off their Asian counterparts as the Qataris clawed back into game to win the see-saw set 25-23 and match.
Despite the loss, India remained satisfied with their performance.
India head coach G.E. Sridharan: “It was a good match. My team played very well but Qatar proved superior against us. Despite the 0-3 loss, I’m satisfied with my players’ performance. We next play another strong team Korea, but we will again try our best because we are here to show our performance.”
India captain Vinit Kumar: “Qatar played very well, but we also did our best. I hope that we can manage to do better in the following matches.”
Qatar head coach Camilo Andres Soto from Argentina: “It’s true that we had to compete in the first match of the day. India has a very strong team physically. In each set, they did well in high balls, pushing constantly towards our service. We understood well where our balls would be going and had a good performance in the block. We are very happy to win at the end.”
Qatar captain Ibrahim Ibrahim: “It was a tough game because it’s not easy to play at 10am, especially when your are facing teams at a high level. To play at this time, you have to get up at 5am and so, it can affect your performance. India are a pretty good team as we’ve played against each other many times. We just had to try not to leave them any chance to go forward.”
India next take on Korea on Wednesday, while Qatar go up against Australia.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: https://twitter.com/avcvolley
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation