Ansan, South Korea: Qatar’s spikers held their nerve during crucial moments to edge Kazakhstan in three straight but tense sets to record their second consecutive win at the Asian Games yesterday.
Two days after powering their way past Chinese Taipei, Qatar encountered stiff opposition from the Kazakhs before clinching a 25-23, 25-22, 25-21 victory in their Group A preliminary to book their spot in the quarter-finals.
Many times during the match the Kazakhs tested the Qataris by clawing back from several points down. But they lost steam and handed back the initiative to Qatar just when they should have gone for the kill.
“The match could have gone either way but I am glad we came through in straight sets. It would have been a tricky affair had the match gone into five sets,” Qatar coach Juan Cichello said.
“We need to be stay positive throughout as the competition is getting tougher if today’s match is any indication. I wanted to try out most of the players in the squad and rotated them, especially in the third set.”
Cichello added that it was a big relief for Qatar to have made the last eight with one match remaining.
“It’s a great advantage especially in our case because our third match in the group stage is against hosts South Korea who are always a dangerous side,” the Argentine said.
Both sides started strongly and matched each other spike for spike during the first 10 minutes before Qatar pulled away to a 10-6 lead. The Kazakhs, however, were not disheartened and kept pegging away to get closer.
Qatar stayed in front for most part of the set, albeit only marginally, but with Vitaliy Vorivodin serving well, the Kazakhs leveled at 22-22 and went ahead through a smash from Nodirkhan Kadirkhanov.
However, a couple of minutes later, Kadirkhanov undid his good work by sending a serve wide which helped Qatar take a 24-23 lead, and Nadir Sadikh finished off the set with a powerful smash.
Qatar served notice at the start of the second set with deadly spikes. The early lead, however, vanished in a jiffy as Kazakhstan came back strongly to catch up, and aided by a few defensive errors from Qatar. The complacency in Qatar’s ranks showed up for the umpteenth time during the match and a couple of poor serves and lacklustre defending allowed Kazakhstan to inch dangerously close.
Renan Ribeiro then put Qatar on match point and a few seconds later a great block by Hammad sealed the win for his side. Sadikh had a whopping 13 spikes for Qatar, while John, Jumah and Hammad had eight each. Ibrahim Ibrahim once again excelled in an all-round role with six spikes and six blocks to his credit. QOC
