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DAY 5 WRAP-UP
Manama, Bahrain, May 19, 2023 – Japan’s Suntory Sunbirds and Qatar’s Police Sports Team became the only teams unbeaten in the 2023 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, tipped to be the two strongest contenders while heading into the Saturday’s eagerly-anticipated semifinals at Isa Bin Rashid Halls.
The Sunbirds and Police both won their respective quarter-final pools on Friday, with the former next taking on Shahdab Yazd of Iran in a mouth-watering final four encounter and the latter facing Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi of Indonesia in the do-or-die game. The mighty clash between Suntory Sunbirds and Shahdab Yazd proves a semifinal rematch of the previous edition in Iran last year. There, the Japanese outfits pulled off a 3-1 win against the host side.
Both contests highlight Saturday’s exciting match at Isa Bin Rashid Halls. The day’s action is scheduled to begin from 11.30am local time and continue until the night, with the last fixtures set for 7:00 pm starts. Entrance is free to all games.
The Suntory Sunbirds secured first place in quarter-final Pool E following their straight-set 27-25, 25-15, 25-18 win against Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi on Friday. Russian Dmitriy Muserskiy had a game-high 17 points for the Japanese while Cuban Alain Junior de Armas chipped in with 15.
“This was a great victory,” said de Armas. “We are doing a great job. I hope we keep this up until the finals. We are in great shape but I think that we can do better and everyone is giving their best on the court.
“Whoever we face in the semi-finals is strong. But we have come to play and to win. We respect everyone, but we expect to win.”
Daudi Okello from Uganda scored 14 points to pace the Indonesians in the setback, while Farhan Halim finished with nine markers.
“We lost today to a stronger team and a more composed team than us,” said Okello. “We hope that tomorrow we play our game. We need to work on our serve and receive, and even our blocking is still shaky.
“All of us in the semi-finals are good teams. We’ve fought so hard to be in the top four. It doesn’t matter who comes our way, we are ready to flex.”
Qatar’s Police won their Pool F fixture against Shahdab Yazd in a five-set thriller that went nearly two-and-a-half hours. The Qataris won the opening set but then conceded the next two, before roaring back for a scintillating 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12) result.
Croatian Petar Dirlic had 26 points to…
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