Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, August 30, 2022 – Saudi Arabia survived Uzbekistan’s scare to stun the determined opponents in epic tie-breaker in the opening match of the 3rd AVC Men’s Challenge Cup at the Sports and Recreation Complex Gazprom here on Monday.
The tournament is being held between August 29 and September 3, with Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and hosts Kyrgyzstan testing their mettle to vie for the eventual title. Teams will play single round-robin preliminaries on the first three days (August 29-31), with September 1 the day for rest and recovery.
The competition resumes on September 2, with the team ranked first in the first round taking on the fourth-ranked side and the second-ranked team fighting it out with the third-ranked team. The two winning teams then set up a final clash to vie for top honour on September 3, with the losers contesting the bronze-medal match on the same day.
The Monday’s first match between Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan was initially expected to end in comfortable straight sets when the Saudi Arabians took the first two sets 25-16, 25-23, but Uzbekistan defied against all odds to make a strong comeback with wins in the next two sets 30-28, 25-18, forcing tie-breaker to determine the eventual winners.
After fighting tooth and nail, Saudi Arabia fared a bit better at home stretch to win the hotly-contested decider 18-16 and match. Omar Alnajrani chipped in with 13 points including 11 attacks for Saudi Arabia. Bunyod Egamkulov led Uzbekistan with 17 points including 15 attacks, while Alisher Askarov and Azizbek Kuchkorov kept good company to add 15 and 14 points respectively.
Shortly after completion of the first match, the opening ceremony took place, with Mr Kanat Shabdanbaev, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy, and Mr Elmurza Satybaldiev, President of Volleyball Federation of Kyrgyzstan, jointly presiding.
Also in attendance were VFK Secretary General Mr Kylych Sarbaghyshev and Referee Delegate Mr Songsak Chareonpong, himself AVC Referees Committee Chairman.
All four participating teams paraded into the competition court, while Mr Satybaldiev and Mr Kanat gave welcome addresses to all visitors. In his speech on behalf of AVC President Mrs Rita Subowo, Technical Delegate Mr Shanrit Wongprasert thanked Kyrgyzstan to host this AVC event and wished all participants a success in the tournament and the host country Kyrgyzstan and local organisers a great accomplishment in terms of a smooth run in this championship.
In this auspicious occasion, Mr Shanrit presented VFK President Mr Satybaldiev with the AVC Plaque in a thankful manner.
The ceremony was followed by the curtain-raising match between Mongolia and hosts Kyrgyzstan which saw the former making a strong start with an exceptional straight-set 25-21, 27-25, 25-14 victory against the latter.
Tamiraa Khangal led all scorers in this match with 12 points including 7 attacks and team-leading 4 blocks, while Toktoev Nurmukhammad scored 10 points in the hosts’ defeat.
On Tuesday, August 30, Mongolia will go up against Saudi Arabia, with Uzbekistan taking on hosts Kyrgyzstan to strive for their first win in this tournament.
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