Uzbekistan tasted first win in their most important match to bag bronze.
Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, September 3, 2022 – Hosts Kyrgyzstan not only avenged their pool stage loss to Saudi Arabia, but also underlined their supremacy over the 3rd AVC Men’s Challenge Cup at the Sports and Recreation Complex Gazprom after making fantastic comeback to beat the strong opponents in epic tiebreaker in the Saturday’s much-anticipated showdown.
Current world No.104 Kyrgyzstan earlier succumbed to 1-3 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their last preliminary match earlier, which eventually allowed the tough rivals a clean sweep in the pool plays. The Saudi Arabians stormed into the final with remarkable unbeaten record with a dramatic 3-1 win against Uzbekistan in the Friday’s semifinals.
Kyrgyzstan also hogged the limelight in this six-day tournament as they suffered only one loss at the hands of Saudi Arabia en route to their final clash, seeking their revenge match against the old foes on Saturday. The hosts’ sweet dreams of a revenge became reality when they bounced back from the first set down to beat Saudi Arabia in hard-fought five-set thriller 29-31, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-11.
Saudi Arabia lived up to all expectations as the world No.76 and 12th place at the last year’s Japan-hosted Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Chiba and Funabashi made a solid start to clinch the first two sets 31-29, 25-20, but hosts Kyrgyzstan regained their composure, refusing to surrender easily. They fought well in all elements to bag the close third set 25-23.
In the fourth set, Saudi Arabia gained the upper hand initially to surge into a narrow lead with a one-point clear at 12-11 and a moment later stretched it to 18-15. However, no matter how many things went wrong, the host side were just never-say-die and they bounced back mightily.
Zhunusov Omurbek and Kanybek Uulu Onolbek were the driving forces for Kyrgyzstan and they punctured the Saudi Arabian defence with their spectacular attacks to help the host side catch up with the visitors at 18-18 and again 20-20.
After that, both sides traded attacks but Kyrgyzstan performed better. They attacked aggressively to widen the margin to 24-22 and held firm to win the crucial point for the eventual 25-22 win in the set, forcing the tiebreaker to determine the eventual winners.
The deciding set became the most competitive so far as Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan gave it all what they had to win the set. Points continued to go…
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