Qatar turned in an exhilarating mix of attack and defence to post a shock 3-0 victory over Australia and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the AVC Men’s Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification Championship on Wednesday.
At the Jiangmen Gymnasium in Jiangmen, China, Opposite Geraldo Graciano Da Silva Filho again collected a match-high 14 points and three aces to lead Al Annabi to a 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 triumph, their second in a row.
Later in the day, Iran and hosts China stayed unbeaten on the second day of the event in Pool A and joined Qatar in the last four stage. The second spot in Pool B looks open and is likely to be decided between South Korea and Australia, both have one win each in two matches.
Qatar’s Argentine coach Camilo Soto was delighted with his team’s superb display as they pulled off 10 blocks to six by Australia. Belal Nabeel Abunabot came up with the most blocks in the match with five.
Soto commented: “Australia are a very high-potential team and they are improving. As for us, playing two games in a row in the morning was not easy for our players (as they are not used to this). I am satisfied with their performance today, especially in defence. And we will just keep going like this.”
The first set which Qatar won at 15 set the tone of the match and Qatar captain Mohammed Ibrahim Saeed said, “It was a good play from our side at the beginning and it helped us win the match.”
Besides Filho, Saeed had a fine all-round game as he secured 13 points, three blocks and three aces. Abunabot added 12 points, including seven attacks. Nader Abubacar got nine.
For Australia, no player could reach double digits. Beau Graham had seven, including four attacks. Nehemian Mote and Lincoln Alexander Williams earned six each.
Australia head coach Mark Lebedew said: “Congratulations to the Team 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 was disappointed with his team’s game and said: “We didn’t play very well and obviously weren’t ready to play this morning. I am just disappointed about that but what we can do now is prepare well for the match against India tomorrow.”
Korea got on the winning track with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-23) victory over India to leave the opponents out of contention. Jiseok Jung contributed 12 points to his team’s success, while India’s Amit Amit topped the charts with 13.
In Pool A, Iran recorded their second straight-set victory, a 3-0 (28-26, 25-16, 25-18) shutout of Kazakhstan. Morteza Sharifi impressed with five aces towards a match high total of 19 points for the winning side. Maxim Michshenko did even better from the serving line, hammering six direct points for Kazakhstan.
Twice in a match that lasted well beyond two hours, China had to come back from a set down to finally emerge with a 3-2 (15-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9) victory over Chinese Taipei.
Chuan Jiang contributed 28 points to the win, while Ming-Chun Wang led Chinese Taipei’s scorers with 21 points, including three aces, to his name. Each on a 2-0 win-loss record, Iran and China will meet for the pool’s top on Thursday, but both are sure to advance to the semis.
Results
Qatar v Australia 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-23)
Korea v India 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-23)
Iran v Kazakhstan 3-0 (28-26, 25-16, 25-18)
China v Chinese Taipei 3-2 (15-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9)
Thursday’s fixtures
India v Australia
Qatar v Korea
Chinese Taipei v Kazakhstan
Iran v China