Bahrain compete against Philippines at the packed venue on Monday
Isa Town, Bahrain, June 3, 2024 – Fired-up Pakistan pulled off upset win against reigning champions Thailand, Korea stunned Qatar in epic tie-breaker and Australia overpowered Vietnam in straight sets, seeing the three winners secure their berths in the highly-anticipated quarterfinals of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Men at the Isa Sports City Hall C here on Monday.
With only top two teams from each pool through to the cross quarterfinals and the third-placed sides relegated to Classification Round for 9th-12th place, Pakistan, Korea and Australia have already claimed back-to-back wins and looked set to top their pools at the end of the pool round-robin preliminaries.
On Monday, Australia demolished Vietnam 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 28-26) in Pool D, while Pakistan upset Thailand 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-21) in Pool B, Korea stunned Qatar 3-2 (25-16, 19-25, 25-16, 22-25, 20-18) in Pool C and hosts Bahrain powered past Philippines 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-20).
In their title defence in the tournament, world No.64 Thailand, which finished 7th place at the FIVB Challenger Cup 2023 in Doha, Qatar, are competing without two key players, Anut Promchan, who sustained an injury, and Napadet Bhinijdee, who could not join the team due to his commitment in the Indonesian Proliga.
World No.49 Pakistan, which emerged triumphant at the recent CAVA Nations League on home soil in Islamabad, fielded a formidable lineup which beat Kazakhstan in straight sets on Sunday including Ali Usman Faryad, who landed the Best Outside Hitter and MVP in the CAVA Nations League, Musawer Khan and Murad Khan.
Thailand made a good start in the first set to take the initial lead 9-7, courtesy of left-hander Amornthep Khonhan and powerful Jakkrit Thanomnoi. Pakistan came back with mighty attacks and effective blocks to level it at 11 and broke away 18-15. To improve on their inconsistent offensive system, Thailand sent in Thanarat Thaweerat and Prasert Pinkaew, but their intention did not pay off as Pakistan maintained their momentum with swift counter-attacks and solid blocks to win the hard-fought first set 25-22.
The second set became one-way traffic as Pakistan led from start to finish. Taking the commanding lead with a seven-point clear at 21-14, the Pakistanis countered with powerful spikes to score four successive points for the comfortable 25-14 win.
Conceding two straight sets, Thailand tightened their defence to level…
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