Though Qatar could not win the bronze medal of the Asian Volleyball Championship, losing the match to China in five exciting sets, they left another vivid impression of their ascent in Tehran on Saturday.
Qatar trailed 0-2 before launching a fierce counter-attack and tied the set scores 2-2. In the decider, China, who have not finished outside the top four, found solutions about how to stop the rivals and clinched it to bag the third place with a 25–23 25–19 21–25 24–26 15–9 victory.
In the gold medal match later, Japan returned to winners’ circle, with left-handed Kunihiro Shimizu spearheading them to a 25-17 25-22 18-25 25–22 victory against hosts Iran at the Azadi Indoor.
A large crowd was cheering on the home team to complete a hat-trick of the titles. But the Japanese, who had also beaten Iran in the 2009 final, had been playing second fiddle to them for a long time, winning only one out of 10 previous matches between them.
Last year, Iran dealt out a big blow to them and won the Asian Games gold in Incheon, South Korea. But the 28-year-old Shimizu, who was also a part of the 2009 winning outfit, combined efforts with teammates to collect the eighth Asian crown for the country with a touch-out off the Iranian blockers.
Shimizu was later adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the championship.
Ibrahim, John Chigbo, Raimi Wadeedi, Renan Rebeiro, Nadir Abubakr, setters Milos Stevanovic and Ali Asadi, libero Saad Suliman and Joao Neto played most of the match and battled hard to keep their team in the contention. However, the Chinese built up an early gap in the fifth and managed to take advantage of their pressure on the Qataris and clinch the match.
While Qatar secured their best finish, betting their previous highest seventh place in 2005, this was the fifth bronze medal for the Chinese, who third in Dubai in the last edition as well.
This was the third time in the last five matches that Qatar were involved in five-setters. Qatar had played China in a Pool F match and led 2-0 before China staged a strong comeback and won match.
Before that, both had figured in the Asian Games quarter-final last year, which the Chinese had won in four sets.
Qatari Team Manager Mohamed Jassim al Kuwari sounded pleased with his team’s achievement and performance in Tehran. He said, “We’re really proud of the team and its great show. All the players pushed themselves hard and secured the fourth place, which is the best finish for us so far.
“We hope to carry forward this experience. We expect that all the players will try to keep up their good work and make efforts to get better results in future.
“This display will certainly motivate the team, which has another challenge in October when we go to Dammam, Saudi Arabia to play the GCC Championship,” added Kuwari.
Team Head Coach Juan Manuel Cichello commented after the match, “This is a big achievement for a team. Our target was to reach the quarter-finals. But we played a wonderful volleyball throughout and we were quite close to beating some of the biggest teams of the Asia like China and Japan.
“I’m really delighted with the steps the team has taken forward. I’m also happy with the potential the players have shown here. We were quite strong against some of the established sides,” Cichello said, admitting that the Qatari spikers have created a new identity of the team.
“There is always room to improve. We know the areas where we have to focus on. The players also know what they have to do. I hope they will work harder and make the team stronger in future so that we can score better results,” said Cichello.
Australia finished fifth with a fine 32–30 25–15 21–25 25–22 triumph over Chinese Taipei and South Korea, who were eyeing the final after they downed Iran in a group league match, got the seventh place to salvage some of their pride, beating Thailand in straight sets.
Results

Final
Japan beat Iran 25-17 25-22 18-25 25–22
3rd place match
China beat Qatar 25–23 25–19 21–25 24–26 15–9
5th place match
Australia beat Chinese Taipei 32–30 25–15 21–25 25–22
7th place match
South Korea beat Thailand 25-22 25-18 25-22
Special awards
Most Valuable Player
Kunihiro Shimizu (Japan)
Best setter
Hideomi Fukatsu (Japan)
Best outside spikers
Pouria Fayazi (Iran)
Hamzeh Zarini (Iran)
Best middle blockers
Mostafa Sharifat (Iran)
Zhang Zhejia (China)
Best opposite spiker
Farhad Piroutpour (Iran)
Best libero
Daisuke Sakai (Japan)
Final standings
Rank Team
1 Japan
2 Iran
3 China
4 Qatar
5 Australia
6 Chinese Taipei
7 South Korea
8 Thailand
9 Kazakhstan
10 Pakistan
11 India
12 Bahrain
13 Sri Lanka
14 Kuwait
15 Oman
16 Turkmenistan