Isa Town, Bahrain, June 8, 2024 – Unbeaten Pakistan and mighty Qatar paved their paths for an electrifying final showdown of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Men, with the former stunning Korea and the latter powering past Kazakhstan in the Saturday’s semifinals at Isa Town Sport City Hall C here.
With their dramatic wins on Saturday, world No. 47 Pakistan and world No.21 Qatar will now battle it out for top honor and the lone berth on offer for the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup in Linyi, China between July 4 and 7, which serves as the last qualification for the revamped VNL 2025, expanding to 18 teams.
On the penultimate day of the eight-day tournament, Pakistan, the only team which have yet lost a match to their respective rivals, pulled off an upset 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-22, 25-22) win against world No.28 Korea in the highly-anticipated semifinals.
Qatar, which went down 2-3 to Korea in their pool play, demolished world No.55 Kazakhstan 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-19, 25-16) in another semifinal clash.
The other two playoff matches on Saturday saw world No. 31 China finish fifth place in the tournament after 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 26-28, 25-21) demolition of world No.54 Vietnam and world No.65 Bahrain upset world No.35 Australia in thrilling straight sets 25-17, 25-22, 25-20 to end their campaign in seventh position.
The match of the day highlights could be witnessed in the clash of the Titans between Pakistan and Korea. At the last year’s rescheduled Hangzhou Asian Games, Pakistan, coached by Brazilian Ramires Ferraz at that time, beat Korea 3-0 in the Round of final 12, and in the Bahrain-hosted AVC Challenge Cup, Korea, with the Brazilian coach at the helm, succumbed to 1-3 defeat at the hands of the formidable Pakistanis.
Against the bronze medallists at the previous edition last year in Chinese Taipei, Pakistan made a strong start in the opening set to lead with a six-point advantage at 17-11, but the Koreans clawed their way back to come close 21-23. However, Pakistan still had enough left in their tank. Muhammad Hamad and Murad Khan successfully blocked an off-speed attack from outside hitter Kim Jihan to reach the set point 24-21 and after that, allowed Korea one more point from a service error of middle blocker Musawer Khan to wrap up the thrilling set 25-22.
Pakistan, which early this month captured the CAVA Nations League title, gained the upper hand in the second set to lead 12-9, but the Koreans started to produce the goods as they…
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