Qatar continued their smart, steady and sensible game and knocked out Chinese Taipei in four sets before breaking into the best four of the Asian Volleyball Championships in Tehran on Thursday.
Their 25 20 25 19 17 25 25 22 victory placed the Juan Manuel Cichello-trained team in the semi-finals for the first time in the history of the championships.
For a place in the final on Friday, Qatar will face former seven-time winners Japan again. Qatar had beaten the Japanese 3-2 in the second stage. But with the morale and tempo of the Gulf team being high after a remarkable showing in the 18th edition, anything is possible.
Japan made the grade by handing the first defeat of the championship to South Korea in five sets, after taking a 2-0 advantage.
The other semi-final pitches reigning champions Iran against China. While the hosts eliminated Australia 25 20 14 25 25 18 25 20, China were involved in three tough sets before they sealed a 25 20 27 25 30 28 victory.
China have a great record in the championships, always finishing as semi-finalists or higher in the 17 editions so far.
Qatar easily took the opening two sets at 20 and 19 with a simple and risk-free volleyball, which exerted a great deal of pressure on Chinese Taipei.
Their rivals however staged a comeback when they won the third set at 17 with the attack being led by Liu Hong-Min, Huang Chun-Ching and captain Chen Chien-Chen.
The loss of the third set spurred Qatar into retaliating strongly and the latter stayed ahead in the early stages of the fourth set. Qatar pulled four points clear (12-8). However, Liu Hong-Min and Huang Chun-Ching again started chipping away on Qatar’s lead and both remained close till 16-16.
At this juncture, Renan Rebeiro, Ibrahim, Raimi Wadidi and Nadir Abubakr collected crucial points to push Qatar 20-16 ahead. This push was more than enough for Qatar, who reached the match point (24-21) with a Rebeiro smash from right wing.
Chinese Taipei, who have twice played the semi-finals earlier, saved a point. But Qatar accomplished the victory off the next opportunity through Rebeiro, who had to produce two spikes in the closing rally.
All the Qatari players erupted in joy and the coach and Team Manager Mohamed Jassim al Kuwari hugged the players.
A beaming Kuwari commented after the match:”This was a fantastic performance by Qatar. The entire team played a great game and by God’s grace, we managed to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
“Our next match is against Japan. We had beaten them earlier in the championships in five sets but I’m sure it would be another tough clash for my team.
“We’ll continue to play without pressure, just as we did today and let us see what happens. But our first semi-final entry is sure to boost our position in the rankings. We’re really thrilled by the display of our team,” added Kuwari.
Argentine coach Cichello said,”We’re very happy with our first semi-finals entry into the Asian championships. All the players are playing with responsibility and spirit to do something for the nation.
“We had a great attack today. We made some errors with our service but with pressure, these mistakes do happen.
“All the players are in encouraging fitness and everybody is trying to play better and raise his level. This is what has helped us.”
Talking about the next match against Japan, he said,”There is no doubt that the match would be difficult. Though we’d beaten them in a previous match, we’ll have to maintain our high levell again if we have to defeat them and enter the final, which, I feel, is possible,” said Cichello.
Semi-final pairings
Japan vs Qatar
China vs Iran
5th 8th places playoffs
Thailand vs Australia
South Korea vs Chinese Taipei