Qatar Volleyball players and team officials pose for a photograph.
Doha/Taipei: Qatar began their debut campaign in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup for Men in style with a brilliant three-setter against Vietnam yesterday.
At the University of Taipei Gymnasium in Taipei, Chinese Taipei, Qatari men had the better of their East Asian counterparts 25-20, 25-19 and 25-23, to take the lead in Pool C which also includes Thailand.
In Pool A, there are Kazakhstan, Japan and Korea while Australia, Iran and hosts Chinese Taipei are drafted in Pool B.
Former champions China had announced earlier that they had to pull out of the AVC Cup because of limited gap between several major events including Asian Games and World Championship, leaving the top nine teams to compete in this year’s tournament.
Team Qatar will meet Thailand in the second Pool match today.
In other matches which were played on the opening day of the event, defending champions Iran beat the hosts 3-1 (25–23, 14–25, 25–21, 25–23) at the same venue.
Earlier yesterday, Japan and South Korea were involved in a thrilling five setter in which the South Korean men prevailed 3-2 (25–20, 19–25, 23–25, 25–23, 17–19).
The tournament concludes on August 15.
