Big guns head to QF

Manama : Bahrain’s hearts were broken yesterday evening while the title hopes lived on for big guns Australia, Iran, Korea and China in the 19th Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship. The 10th-ranked Bahrainis failed to capitalise on a 2-0 advantage as they fell to their Australian counterparts 2-3 (25-16, 25-17, 32-34, 22-25, 11-15) in an epic match that took place at a jam-packed Isa Sports City in Riffa.

With the result, the victorious Australians punched their tickets to the Quarter-final round, where they will be joined by the top-ranked trio of Iran, Korea and China. Thailand and Kazakhstan were also through, as were Taipei and Iraq, who came away with the major upsets of the tournament thus far. Taipei eliminated fourth seeds Japan while Iraq beat sixth-ranked Turkmenistan.

Following their big win yesterday, Australia next lock horns with Korea in the last eight. Other Quarter-final match-ups pit Iran against Kazakhstan, China with Iraq and Taipei against Thailand. All Quarter-final matches take place today, beginning from 2pm at the same venue and continuing well into the evening. All are welcome to attend. Entrance for spectators is free.

In Bahrain’s game with Australia, the nationals were in complete control in the first two sets, but then a see-saw third set saw the best from both teams. Australia were in the lead but Bahrain fought back, setting the stage for an exciting exchange. Both teams would not give in, and Bahrain narrowly missed on a handful of opportunities to close the game out, and the Australians managed to create the two-point gap and take set number three.