Qatar players celebrate their win over Japan in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup semi-final match in Chinese Taipei yesterday.
Doha: Debutants Qatar maintained their outstanding run in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup by defeating Japan 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 25-16) yesterday to book a place in the final.
At the University of Taipei Gymnasium in Chinese Taipei, Qatar took an early lead but the 2016 bronze winners, Japan levelled the score at 10-10 and kept a narrow lead until 20-19.
But then, Qatar’s destructive serves and attacks penetrated the Japanese defense and the Al Annabi pocketed the first set with a stunning 25-21 scoreline.
The Japanese spikers made a thrilling comeback in the second set to gain a narrow advantage to win at 25-22.
Determined Qatari spikers surged back in the third set despite a strong defence from Japan. Holding advantage of high-point attacks, height and aggressive serves, Al Annabi players wrapped up the set at 25-19.
Japan kept themselves in the hunt for the victory in the fourth set, with their biggest contributor Kento Miyaura making consecutive spikes to gain the lead.
This did not trouble Qatar as they made use of their height and power to spoil Japan’s efforts to widen the gap and they eventually secured the fourth and final set at 25-16 to book the final showdown against defending champions Iran.
Ibrahim Mohamed and Sadikh Ndir added 16 points each to make the biggest contributions for Qatar while Hammad Mubarak (15) and Abunabot Belal (13) also added valuable points.
“We were under pressure from the Japanese orderly blocks and solid defence and we had made some mistakes that were not seen before in this match. But we were able to fix the problems in time and won this thrilling game,” Qatar head coach Camilo Soto said after the win against the Asian volleyball giants yesterday.
Iran brushed off hosts Chinese Taipei in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-23) in the other semi-final yesterday and will take on Qatar in today’s final.
