VOLLEYBALL – Bahrain’s Muharraq wrapped up their preliminary round campaign in the 44th Arab Club Men’s Volleyball Championship yesterday with a resounding three-set sweep of Palestinian Military Club from Palestine.
The Bahrainis were in a class of their own in the Group B clash, powering past their opponents 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-23) to claim their third win in five outings in the Tunis, Tunisia tournament.
Muharraq now head into the knockout stages, where they await to learn of their next opponents.
After claiming the first two sets with commanding performances, the kingdom’s representatives faced a more determined effort from Palestinian Military Club in the third frame yesterday.
They fell behind 22-23 late on, but then came alive by taking the next three points to secure the impressive victory.
Nasser Anan had a spike to level the proceedings at 23-apiece, and after a misfired attack from their rivals gave them match point, Majeed Mohammed delivered the decisive blow.
Muharraq also had key contributions in the win from professionals Jacob Link from Sweden and Mateusz Jozwik from Poland, who helped inspire them in the first set before getting some much-needed time to rest in the second and third frames.
The rest of the team stepped up over the remainder of the game, with Mahmood Alafyah, Sayed Hashem Isa, Hussain Ehsan, Mohammed Abdulla, Mohammed Omar, Mohammed Khalil, Abbas Al Khabbaz, and Bader Hussain all in fine form.
With the result, Muharraq solidified their place amongst the top-ranked teams in Group B along with home side Etoile Sportive du Sahel, Al Ittihad SCSC Tripoli from Libya, and Police SC from Qatar, while the remaining squads in their pool are Majees SC from Oman and Palestinian Military Club.
Group A of the preliminaries features Esperance Sportive de Tunis representing the host nation, Qatar SC from Qatar, Asswehly SC from Libya, Al Seeb from Oman, and Tadjenanet from Algeria.
The schedule of the knockout rounds had yet to be released by the Arab Volleyball Association (AVA) as of last night.
Muharraq, coached by Bahraini tactician Yaseen Al Meel, are the lone side from the kingdom competing in this year’s event, which is organised and run by the AVA, chaired by Bahrain Volleyball Association president Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa.
They are looking to improve on the ninth-place classification achieved by fellow-Bahraini outfit Dar Kulaib in the competition’s previous edition last year in Doha.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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