VOLLEYBALL – BAHRAIN and Pakistan set up a hugely exciting showdown for the title last night in the AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup 2025.
The host Bahrainis secured their spot in the tournament final after fighting off a furious challenge from continental powerhouses South Korea to win a thriller 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 21-25, 18-25, 15-13) in front of a large and jubilant crowd at Isa Bin Rashid Arena, located at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
The Pakistanis, meanwhile, took down last year’s champions Qatar in a stunning 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) sweep.
The stage is now set for the highly anticipated championship decider, scheduled to take place tonight at 7pm at the same venue.
Also yesterday, Australia took fifth place overall in the final rankings while Chinese Taipei secured seventh. The Australians were triumphant in a three-setter against Indonesia, while Chinese Taipei defeated Vietnam in four sets.
One last classification contest is scheduled for today, kicking off the final day’s programme in the kingdom. It will be a game for 10th place between the Philippines and New Zealand, who will be battling for their first and only wins in the competition.
The bronze medal match between the South Koreans and Qataris follows at 3pm, prior to the title match.
“The players are at home and they found the energy to go to the final – it was not so easy,” Bahrain head coach and former Olympian Arnaud Josserand from France said during his post-match Press conference.
“So now that we’ve arrived to the final, for sure Pakistan is a really good team, they played two sets less than we did, so maybe they are going to be in good shape. We don’t know, but we’re going to try to recover as fast as possible, and we are at home, so I’m sure the players are going to give a thousand per cent of energy to win it.”
In Bahrain’s victory yesterday, the nationals had a strong start. A triple block by Mohammed Yaqoob, Hasan Al Warqaa, and Mahmood Alafyah on South Korea’s outside hitter Jihan Kim gave them the first set, and then a net fault in the second put them firmly in command 2-0.
But South Korea got into their groove in the third and carried their momentum into set four, forcing the tie-break.
The two sides battled from the opening ball in the decisive frame but Bahrain managed to pull away 13-10 on a spike by middle blocker Mohammed Jassim Abdulla. The South Koreans got back to within a point, but Yaqoob hit a stunning smash to give the home team match point.
A Subong Heo block out kept South Korea alive, but then Yaqoob connected on another attack down the line to give the Bahrainis the incredible victory.
“When we entered the game, we expected a difficult match, but we tried to give our best,” said Yaqoob.
Of their final against Pakistan, Bahrain skipper Naser Anan said: “Pakistan have been developing their team the past three years. Last year, they were in the final, but we will see tomorrow what we can do.”
Yaqoob scored 18 points to lead the nationals, including three aces. Opposite spiker Ali Ebrahim chipped in with 16 points, while Anan had 14, and both Al Warqaa and Abdulla scored 10.
Opposite spiker Hojin Shin paced South Korea with 18 points, while Kim scored 17 and Heo had 15.
In Pakistan’s win, they were firing on all cylinders against the team that beat them in three sets in the final of last year’s competition, also held in the kingdom.
After powering to the two-set advantage, the Pakistanis were not to be denied in the third set. They went ahead 9-4, but the Qataris fought back and stayed within striking distance. A block by skipper Ibrahim Mohamed Ibrahim got them to within 19-20, but then Pakistan captain Murad Jehan took over. The inspired outside hitter came up biggest in the end, scoring all of Pakistan’s last four points, including the match-clinching smash from the left.
“Winning this match was so important to us,” Jehan said during their post-game Presser. “We had been suffering from several defeats against Qatar, and we worked really hard to win against them.
“I told our team ‘Let’s not play this match like it is an official game, let’s play like we are training’, because when we trained in Islamabad, nobody knows our stories, there were many hard things that we had to go through, so we are ready for this final.”
Pakistan’s Iranian head coach Mohammadirad Rahman expressed his delight in the way they won against “one of the best teams in the tournament”.
“We played very well in attack, and we defended so many balls,” said Rahman. “Our system in defence was very good today.
“We know Qatar are one of the best teams in the tournament, and last year they became champions of this competition, and winning against them was really difficult.
“I am really happy that we could win against them 3-0, but I think we don’t have so much time to celebrate, because we have an important match tomorrow. We are proud to be in the final, and we showed today that we deserve to be there.”
Outside hitter Usman Faryad Ali finished as Pakistan’s leading scorer with 18 points, while Jehan added 16. For the Qataris, outside hitters Raimi Wadidie and Youssef Oughlaf finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
In Australia’s game against Indonesia, they were in command from the beginning and then staved off Indonesia’s valiant attempt to fight back in the third. The Australians closed the game out with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) score line.
Outside hitter Sam Flowerday led their scorers with 12 points while opposite spiker William-D’Arcy-Miles finished with 11 and outside hitter Lorenzo Pope had 10.
For the Indonesians, opposite spiker Rivan Nurmulki was their only player in double figures with 13, while outside hitter Boy Arnez Arabi scored seven in the loss.
Chinese Taipei secured their final classification in seventh after beating Vietnam 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22).
Chinese Taipei gave up the opening set but rallied in the next three to end their tournament campaign on a winning note.
Leading the way for the victors were outside hitters Yu-Chen Chang and Yu Lin Liu, who scored 21 points apiece. Skipper Chang had an impressive four service aces in the contest. Opposite spiker En-De Chen chipped in with 17 markers.
Ngoc Thuan Nguyen was Vietnam’s leading scorer with a game-high 24 points, while fellow-outside hitter Xuan Truong Hoang chipped in with 15.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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