Twenty-one time champions Al Arabi Club booked their 27th appearance in the Qatar Volleyball Association’s premier event Emir’s Cup Volleyball Championship with a 2-0 rout of Police on Monday.
At the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, defending champions Al Arabi Club clinched the second semi-final playoff by 25-20 25-17 25-20. The winners had won the opening playoff in straight sets as well.
Al Arabi Club will have to wait for two days to know their opponents in the final, to be played on May 13.
In the other semi-final playoff series, El Jaish bounced back against Al Rayyan Club to pull off a five-setter victory, which tied them 1-1.
The army team, who had lost the first class in five sets, looked more organised and fluent during their 25-20 20-25 19-25 15-8 victory.
Both El Jaish, who are looking for their first the Emir’s Cup final, and 11-time champions Al Rayyan will return on Wednesday to resume the battle to determine the other finalist.
Though Williams Pedura Diaz, a Cuban professional, was the best scorer for Police with 13 points, he could not find the desired support from other players, including other pro Silmar Antonio de Almeida. Nadir Abubaker and de Almeida earned eight each.
Police resisted in the beginning of each set. Suddenly, Al Arabi Club shifted into higher gears, riding their superior attack and plenty of unforced errors from their opponents. All the three sets ended with service errors from Police players.
For Al Arabi, Yoandry Leal Hidalgo and middle player Ibrahim Mohamed were quite attractive, collecting 12 points each. Italian national team and Dynamo Moscow player Ivan Zaytsev added 10. Another middle player Bassam was also quite effective and gained 9 points for the winners.
El Jaish depend a lot on world’s best middle player Robertlandy Simon and the Cuban justified it, unleashing a flurry of power-packed smashes. His big tally of 37 points kept El Jaish on the top in important moments of the second playoff.
Besides Simon, Oreol Camejo and Bojan Dokic also excelled, which helped the winners dominate Al Rayyan in the fifth tie-break set. Camejo tallied 17, while Dokic secured 15 points.
Wilfredo Leon Venero and Tine Urnaut were chief contributors for Al Rayyan Club. Venero netted 23, while Trentino Diatec spiker Urnaut got 18. Mubarak Dahi Waleed chipped in 11.
النتائج
Al Arabi Club beat Police 25-20 25-17 25-20 in one hour & 7 minutes
El Jaish beat Al Rayyan Club 25-20 20-25 25-20 19-25 15-8 in two hours
Wednesday’s fixture
4:30 PM: Al Rayyan Club vs El Jaish