Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, August 25, 2016 – Hosts Myanmar, Taipei Power, Al-Arabi Sports Club and Bank Sarmayeh respectively top Pool A, B, C and D after making a clean sweep at the end of the pool round-robin preliminaries of the “SMM” 2016 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday.
At Hall B, Taipei Power from Chinese Taipei, which have already secured a place in the quarter-finals after capturing two successive victories against Iraq’s Gas Al Janoob and Polri Samator from Indonesia, struggled hard to beat Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza from Japan in a hard-fought five–set thriller 3-2 (25-22 25-23 23-25 21-25 15-11) in gruelling 129 minutes in Pool B.
After the match, Taipei Power’s head coach Lee Shih-Chia said, “We learned that our opponents are very strong. We played well in the first two sets. But in the third and fourth sets, Japan regained their form to control the game. The scores were very close but we lost. Fortunately, we came back in the last set. We are very happy to win this match and I hope that we will play better in the quarter-finals. We want to finish the tournament among top four teams.”
Wang Ming-Chun, who was instrumental in lifting Taichung Bank the victory at the last year’s Asian Men’s Club Championship at home, emerged as the top scorer of Taiwan Power after collecting 21 points including 16 kills and 4 stuff blocks, while Takuya Takamatsu top scored with 17 points, 15 points from attack hits, for Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza.
In Pool D, Altay VC from Kazakhstan proved too strong for Malaysia to mercilessly crush the unfancied rivals in a totally one-sided 3-0 (25-12 25-12 25-13) encounter. Yury Zinko Yury led Altay VC with 13 points, while Sim Jian Qin scored a team-high 16 points for Malaysia.
“Today, it’s kind of a power game because we wanted to do well in this tournament. We have a very good team and we played our best here. Our defence and attacks were very good. Malaysia are a good team with a promising future. I love playing here in Myanmar. This tournament is wonderful. I hope that my team will perform well again in the quarter-finals,” said Altay’s key player Yuri Zinko.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Al-Arabi Sports Club, silver medallists at the previous year’s edition, came back from one set down to upset Shanghai Golden Age of China in a dramatic four-set battle 19-25 25-21 25-14 25-21 in Pool C.
The Chinese side got off to flying start in the first set to lead 8-6, stretched it to 19-16 and 24-18 respectively until Serbia import Nikola Kovacevic finished the first set 25-19 for the team with a powerful spike which touched the block out.
In the second and third sets, Al-Arabi Sports Club’s coach Lajnef Maaouia sent in Miguel Dalmaw Calderin to penetrate the Chinese defence with his powerful serves and attacks.
The game went well for Al-Arabi while the Chinese team started to commit too many unforced errors from the service line. The Qataris took 25-21 25-14 in the next two sets.
While leading 21-24 in the fourth set, Hisham Abdulrahman Amro served aces down the line to finish the set and match for Al-Arabi Sports Club.
Neves Vissotto scored massive 24 points including 21 kills from 38 attempts for Al-Arabi Sports Club, while Hungarian-born German Gyorgy Grozer collected 16 points for the Chinese team.
“In the beginning, we didn’t play well. They pressured us with good services. In the second set, we started to play better. We did so many good services to pressure them. When they struggled with reception, we could block and did more on counter-attacks. Then we could break the scores. In the third set, we made so many difficult serves and that’s why we won many points. In the last set, it was a very close game. One of my players served successive aces and that’s why the services made the difference,” said Al-Arabi Sports Club’s head coach Maaouia.
“We will next play Vietnam’s Maseco TPHCM in the final eight teams. I watch the Vietnamese and Myanmar play in the first match of the competition. I think Myanmar are stronger. Of course, the next round will never be that easy for us. We will have to prepare well for that round,” he added.
In the other Pool C match encounter, Thailand’s Wing 46- Phitsalulok tasted their first win in the top-flight tournament after defeating the UAE’s Al Jazira Club in comfortable straight sets 25-19 25-22 25-13 in 72 minutes.
“We played much better than the previous two matches. My players played according to our game plan. Today we played more comfortably as our opponent’s blocks were not so high, so we could attack them efficiently. I think this is our best match so far in the tournament. We will try to play better in our next matches,” Thai head coach Kampon Sripo commented.
At Hall C, hot-favourites Bank Sarmayeh from Iran remained in awesome form to thrash underdogs Hong kong in a lop-sided battle 25-6 25-19 25-11 in Pool D.
Seyed Mousavi Eraghi scored a match-high 15 points for Bank Sarmayeh. He led in all skills with 9 points in spiking, 2 blocks and 4 ace serves, while Kwan Leung Ho collected only 5 points for Hong Kong.
Also contesting at the same hall, Indonesia’s Polri Samator pulled off a hard-fought 3-1 (25-23 25-20 19-25 25-17) victory over Iraq’s Gas Al Janoob in Pool B.
At the completion of pool round-robin preliminaries on Thursday, Myanmar top Pool A with 6 points, with Vietnam in second place with 3 points. Turkmenistan’s Nebitchi, which had withdrawn a few days ahead of the competition, finished third without winning any point.
Invincible Taiwan Power captured the top spot in Pool B with 8 points from three consecutive wins, while Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza finished second with 6 points from two wins against one loss. Indonesia’s Polri Samator and Iraq’s Gas Al Janoob finished third and fourth places with 3 and 1 points respectively.
Pool C was dominated by Qatar’s Al-Arabi Sports Club with 9 points, with China’s Shanghai Golden Age in second place with 6 points from two wins against one loss. Thailand’s Wing 46-Phitsanulok finished third with 3 points, while Al Jazira Club from the UAE did not win a match to come in fourth place with no point.
Bank Sarmayeh made a clean sweep to top Pool D with 9 points from three straight wins. Kazakhstan’s Altay Vc came in second place with 6 points from two wins against one loss. Malaysia finished third with three points from one win against two losses, while winless Hong Kong came in fourth position.
Only top two teams from each pool advanced to the quarter-finals, with the teams finishing third and fourth places relegated to the 9th-15th classification round.
Teams in the quarter-finals will be split to Pool E and F for a pool round-robin contest. The teams which have already meet in the first round won’t play any more in this round, but points from the previous performances will be taken into consideration in the quarter-finals.
The lower-ranked teams in the 9th-15th classification round will also be divided into Pool G and H for a pool round-robin competition.
Friday, August 26 will be the rest day. The quarter-finals and the 9th-15th classification round will resume on Saturday.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
POOL B
Taiwan Power (Chinese Taipei) b Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza (Japan) 3-2 (25-22 25-23 23-25 21-25 15-11)
Polri Samator (Indonesia) b Gas Al Janoob (Iraq) 3-1 (25-23 25-20 19-25 25-17)
POOL C
Wing 46-Phitsanulok (Thailand) b Al Jazira Club (UAE) 3-0 (25-19 25-22 25-13)
Al-Arabi Sports Club (Qatar) b Shanghai Golden Age (China) 3-1 (19-25 25-21 25-14 25-21)
POOL D
Bank Sarmayeh (Iran) b Hong Kong 3-0 (25-6 25-19 25-11)
Altay VC (Kazakhstan) b Malaysia 3-0 (25-12 25-12 25-13)
STANDINGS AFTER COMPLETION OF POOL ROUND-ROBIN PRELIMINARIES
POOL A
- Myanmar 6 points
- Maseco TPHCM (Vietnam) 3 points
- Nebitchi (Turkmenistan) 0 point
POOL B
- Taiwan Power (Chinese Taipei) 8 points
- Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza (Japan) 6 points
- Polri Samator (Indonesia) 3 points
- Gas Al Janoob (Iraq) 1 point
POOL C
- Al-Arabi Sports Club (Qatar) 9 points
- Shanghai Golden Age (China) 6 points
- Wing 46-Phitsanulok (Thailand) 3 points
- Al Jazira Club (UAE) 0 point
POOL D
- Bank Samaryeh (Iran) 9 points
- Altay VC (Kazakhstan) 6 points
- Malaysia 3 points
- Hong Kong 0 point
MATCH SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2016
HALL B
11.30am: 1-8 Pool F: Taiwan Power v Altay VC
14.00pm: 1-8 Pool E: Myanmar v Shanghai Golden Age
16.30pm: 1-8: Pool F: Bank Samaryeh v Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza
19.00pm: 1-8: Pool E: Al-Arabi Sports Club v Maseco TPHCM
HALL C
11.30am: 9-15 Pool G: Nebitchi v Al Jazira Club
14.00pm: 9-15 Pool H: Polri Samator v Hong Kong
16.30pm: 9-15 Pool H: Malaysia v Gas Al Janoob