El Jaish are upbeat after subduing mighty Al Arabi Club in the semi-final playoff series and now they’re training their sight on another big scalp of eight-time champions Al Rayyan in the Qatar Cup Volleyball Championship final on Thursday at 6.30 pm.
At the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena on Tuesday, the army team completed a huge upset after beating 15-time winners Al Arabi Club 3-2 to advance to the final.
Their professional players Robertlandy Simon and Oreol Camejo displayed electrifying game and utilised local players like Bojan Dokic, setter Milos Stevanovic, Papemagutte Diagne and Othman Abdulwahid to good effect before scripting the famous 2-1 series victory.
On the other hand, GCC champions Al Rayyan Club, who have paraded 2012 London Olympics-winning Russian Dimitriy Ilinykh and Polish star Zbigniev Bartman, disposed of Police with superb all-round game to win their series 2-0 and make it to their 21st final.
El Jaish may have beaten Al Arabi but raising the bar of performance again against a strong team like Al Rayyan on Thursday would really need another strong showing. It has to be seen tomorrow if they live up to the expectations again and get a rare taste of big titles.
At a press conference in Doha on Wednesday, Qatar Volleyball Association Executive Director Ahmed al Shibani informed the final would carry QR450,000 with the winners earning QR300,000. Besides the prize money, sponsor Suliman Brothers have also offered $2,000 for the Most Valuable Player Award winner.
Also present on the occasion were QVA Technical Director Hussein Imam Ali, QVA Competition Committee head Dr Ali Mostafa Tafa, team managers Nasser al Malki (Al Rayyan Club), Khalid al Kaabi (El Jaish), coaches Igor Arbutina (Al Rayyan), Zohair Belhadj (El Jaish), players Usman Ajab, Bartman (both Al Rayyan), Simon and Camejo.
Camejo said, “We will not waste this chance of defeating Al Rayyan in order to win our first major title. We know that our mission is not easy because Al Rayyan have got high level players but we are determined to play with the same focus as we did against Al Arabi in the semi-finals.”
Simon, who had played for Al Rayyan during the 2014 FIVB Clubs World Championships in Brazil and helped them become the silver medallists, said, “We’ve some special plan and we’ll play to our strength against Al Rayyan.
“Against Al Arabi, we’d opportunities to make adjustments but on Thursday, there is just one match and we’ve got to do our best to win it,” he added.
El Jaish coach Belhadj revealed, “We’re aware that Al Rayyan are hiding one of their professional players whose name has not been announced. He is expected to replace unfit Ilinykh. But we’re ready for the match and Inshallah, we’ll win it.”
“We respect Al Rayyan team and the Qatar Cup is a precious title for us. We’ll go all out to win it and dedicate it to our club, which is trying its best to come at par with Al Arabi and Al Rayyan,” the army team mentor added.
However, Al Rayyan captain Ajab denied it and said, “The Russian player is fit. All the players seek some treatment after the matches and so he is also getting it in order to be at his best for the match.
“As far as the final is concerned, Al Rayyan are a big team. We’ve recently won the GCC title after beating Al Arabi. We’re used to playing Al Arabi in the finals. El Jaish are challenging us for a first time in a big event. We’ve both confidence and competent strike force that are needed in the big matches.
“But our strongest point is our reception. Al Arabi had the problems in the fifth set mainly because they were not able to receive the ball as well as they would have liked, despite leading 8-6 at the change-over. Our reception is, however, the best and hopefully, we’ll be able to deal with them better than Al Arabi did,” said Ajab with confidence.
Al Rayyan coach Arbutina said, “We saw interesting matches in the Qatar Cup semi-finals and I expect the same in the final. El Jaish played tough against Al Arabi but the cup will come eventually to us.”
Bartman commented, “I watched the El Jaish match. They put in a lot of quality into the semi-finals. They lost the first playoff 0-3 and then they came back strongly and managed to reach the final.
“We expect a tough game against El Jaish as well. But we should avoid stress, be patient, enjoy the match and try to play our volleyball. Al Arabi had a lot of stress yesterday and this blocked them from playing their best on the court.
“We know that El Jaish can also play good volleyball. I think we’ve many good players and we’ll just try to do our best and win the (Qatar) Cup for the team,” added the Polish player, who was earlier a beach volleyball starling.
The teams

Al Rayyan: Osman Ajab (captain), Ali Asadi, Suleiman Saeed (L), Ali Ishaq, Zbigniev Bartman, Bilal Abu Nabout, Mubarak Dahi Waleed, Edin, Dmitriy Ilinykh, Bairam Fawi and Andre Luiz.
Head coach: Igor Arbutina; Assistant Coach: Karim Ben Ayad; Team Manager: Nasser al Malki
El Jaish: Marko Stevanovic (L), Amr Sokolar, Othman Abdulwalid, Emir Makas, Mubarak Abdulrahman, Oreol Camejo, Bojan Dokic, Milos Stevanovic, Ilija Ivovic, Youssef Aghlaf, Robertlandy Simon, Marwan Ali, Mohammed Abuwatfa, and Papemagutte Diagne
Coach: Zohair Belhadj; Team Manager: Khalid al Kaabi