Historic victory for Bahrain!

TDT | Manama              

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national volleyball team made sporting history yesterday after securing their berth in the gold medal match of the fourth AVC Men Challenger, currently being held in Chinese-Taipei.

The Bahrainis stunned South Korea, ranked 29th in the world by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), with a resounding 3-0 (35-33, 25-23, 25-20) sweep in their semi-final contest, played at the University of Taipei arena.

The Bahrainis were spearheaded by the awesome performances of Mohammed Yaqoob, Naser Anan and Ali Ebrahim, who were their leading scorers. Yaqoob finished the game with 22 points, while Anan and Ebrahim each contributed 13 markers.

Subong Heo paced the Koreans with 22 points. Bahrain are now set to take on world number 64 Thailand in the final. It is their first-ever championship-decider at the senior men’s level in any Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) tournament.

The Thais came away with a dramatic 3-1 (20-25, 25-13, 25- 22, 25-15) in their final four encounter yesterday against world number 56 Vietnam. Bahrain, ranked 77th by the FIVB, now battle with Thailand for the gold medals today.

The game is scheduled for a 10am start, Bahrain time. The Koreans and Vietnamese will face off for the tournament’s bronze medals. By advancing to the final, the Bahrainis assured that they will be improving on their stellar finish from the 2022 AVC Cup for Men, where they claimed the bronze.

The Bahrainis will not only be hoping to clinch their first-ever gold medals in a senior men’s competition under the AVC, they will also be looking to claim the lone berth in the 2023 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup (VCC) in Qatar at the end of this month.

The winner of the 2023 VCC shall be promoted and compete in the 2024 edition of the Volleyball Nations League. The senior men’s nationals are also gearing up for the 22nd Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship from August 18 to 26 in Tehran.

In Bahrain’s win yesterday, the nationals led 10-8 in the first set but then Korea rallied for six unanswered points. The nationals recovered and it was a see-saw affair from there, until the Bahrainis were able to eke out the set by two points following a number of Korean missed opportunities.

In the second set, Korea took a quick 4-0 lead but the Bahrainis were able to fight back. Then, with the set tied at 22- all, Bahrain scored the next two points. After the Koreans got one back, they rewarded Bahrain the two-set advantage with a service error. Things remained close in the third set until Bahrain were able to take a slim 19-18 lead.

A brilliant spike by Mohamed Abdulla then gave the Bahrainis a 20- 18 advantage, and they never looked back. Ebrahim had two attacks then Anan had a brilliant block to make it 23-20. Yaqoob then had a service winner and then a master block from the Bahrainis finally sealed the win.