DAY 2 WRAP-UP
Manama, Bahrain, May 15, 2023 – Four teams have secured their places in the top eight while the remaining four will have to fight on on the final day of the preliminary round action on Tuesday in the 2023 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in Bahrain.
Among those who have already punched their tickets to the quarterfinal pools are South Korea’s Korean Air Jumbos Pro-Volleyball Club, Suntory Sunbirds from Japan, Shahdab Yazd of Iran and Police Sporting Club of Qatar, three of them made it two in a row in their pool encounters.
Four others kept their hopes of advancing alive after claiming their first wins. They include Thailand’s Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force, South Gas Sports Club from Iraq, Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi of Indonesia and Atyrau VC of Kazakhstan.
Bahrain’s Al-Ahli also still have a chance of going through despite losing to their Korean counterparts in an exciting clash that brought Monday night’s play to a close.
The full roster of eight that will be marching forward and continuing their title bids will be determined Tuesday night, as the preliminaries will wrap up at Isa Bin Rashed Hall.
Korean Air Jumbos showed their class in their Pool A clash with home team Al-Ahli, staving off a late charge by the Bahrainis to triumph 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-22). Jung Jiseok had a fine showing with 17 points as the Koreans’ leading scorer, while Im Donghyeok added 14.
Cuban Yosvany Hernandez was Al-Ahli’s only player who scored double figures with 11, while Nasser Anan had nine and Brazilian Gabriel Candido finished with eight points.
“It was a really difficult game,” said Jiseok. “We were worried about Bahrain, but in the end our performance was as we had planned. The Bahrain team almost showed their colours, but we blocked them better and we were able to get this win”.
“We came here to be champions. We know it’s not going to be easy but we have to learn game by game, and if we play how we have to, then the rest will come to us.”
Al-Ahli’s Italian setter Davide Saitta admitted that they were outplayed, but added that they remain focused on winning their final game Tuesday in the hopes of moving forward in the competition.
“We faced a really good team,” said Saitta. “We lost some occasions in the second set when we were still fighting point for point, but could not take the advantage. In the third set, we came back, but they were stronger than us.
“There is no time to be sad [about…
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