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| Vietnamese players defend a volley from Qatar’s Al Arabi Sports Club during their Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, held in Ninh Bình Province’s gymnasium on Sunday. — Photo thethao.sggp.org.vn |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam lost 0-3 to Qatar’s Al Arabi Sports Club in the classification round match at the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, held in Ninh Bình Province’s gymnasium on Sunday.
Al Arabi were the silver medallists in last year’s tournament, held in Myanmar. They are now placed second in Pool C of the preliminary round.
The club showed their superiority in the first set, with the excellent partnership of Grozer Gyorgy and Oliva Salvador Hidalgo getting them a comfortable 25-15 win.
Việt Nam had entered the second round as Group A leader. As hosts, they also had the support of hundreds of cheering fans.
However, despite fighting back strongly in the next two sets, they could not stop the visitors’ onslaughts, led by the German-import Gyorgy, and lost 25-22, 25-22.
Al Arabi’s head coach Lajnef Maaouia said the match was not an easy one, despite his team’s win. “It was not an easy match. My team played better than our previous matches. Việt Nam are a good team, and today, they played well. They are the winners of Pool A, but I think we were able to execute our game plan well. I am happy with my team’s victory.”
Việt Nam will next meet Kazakhstan club Altay VC, who won 21-25, 25-8, 25-19, 25-22 against Iraqi Al Bahri on Sunday. Al Arabi will see Al Bahri in a later match. — VNS
