VOLLEYBALL – Bahrain’s Al Ahli completed a clean sweep of their preliminary round schedule last night in the fourth Wava Men’s Clubs Volleyball Championship, currently being held in Kuwait City.
Ahli powered to their third win in as many games after outduelling hosts Kuwait Sports Club in a 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 25-19, 20-25, 16-14) thriller.
The result put them in first place on the Group B table as they head into the West Asia Volleyball Association (Wava) tournament’s quarter-final stage undefeated.
Meanwhile, fellow-Bahraini side Dar Kulaib came up short in their bid to also finish the preliminaries with a pristine record after losing to Ittihad Club from Saudi Arabia in their own five-setter.
Dar Kulaib twice battled back from a set down but could not close things out in a narrow 2-3 (22-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 12-15) defeat.
Despite their first setback of the competition, Dar Kulaib are also through to the elite eight as Group C victors.
In the quarters, which are scheduled to take place tomorrow, Ahli will be facing off with Ittihad, who finished as the best third-placed team from the opening phase.
Dar Kulaib, on the other hand, will lock horns with Group A runners-up South Gas Sports Club from Iraq.
Only the top two teams from each of the three preliminary round pools, along with the two best third-placed sides, marched forward to the knockout quarter-finals.
The winners from tomorrow’s contests will move on to the last four, which will be played on Thursday.
They will then set the stage for the gold and bronze medal contests on the championship’s concluding day on Saturday.
Classification matches to determine the rest of the final rankings will also be held from Wednesday to Friday.
Ahli and Dar Kulaib are vying not only for the Wava title in the Kuwaiti capital, but are also aiming to capture a berth in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Men’s Champions League 2026 in Pontianak, Indonesia, set from May 13 to 17.
Ahli, who were the bronze medallists from the previous edition of the tournament hosted last year by the kingdom, needed to dig deep in their win last night against Kuwait, who received a boost from their home crowd.
After conceding the fourth set, the Bahrainis fell behind early in the tie-break but battled back to take a 10-9 lead on a Mahmood Abdulhussain attack.
The Kuwaitis answered right back and the two sides continued their see-saw battle until a 14-all deadlock.
Hani Alawi then put Ahli in front for good with an all-important spike set up by teammate Abbas Abdulla, and then they sealed the match with a decisive double block by Alawi and Abdulla against Kuwait’s Brazilian professional Lailson Costa.
Meanwhile, Dar Kulaib battled hard in their loss against Ittihad.
Late in the fifth set, they got to within 10-11 following a service error from the Saudis, but their opponents then strung together the next three points to move to the brink of victory, which they finally secured after Dar Kulaib’s Kenyan import Enock Mogeni sent his serve beyond the baseline.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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