Ahli power past Kuwaitis in West Asian volleyball

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Al Ahli Club powered to a resounding victory in four sets over Kuwait SC of Kuwait yesterday in the second West Asian Men‘s Clubs Volleyball Championship, currently being held in Muscat.

The Bahrainis were playing in their concluding fixture in Group B of the tournament’s preliminary round.

It was their second straight appearance on the playing court in less than 24 hours, as they were in action the previous night against Shabab Al Hussain of Jordan.

Despite their minimal recovery time, Ahli showed no signs of fatigue as they overcame a second-set setback to win 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-14, 25-12).

Bahrain national team star Ali Ebrahim and Montenegro professional Marko Vukasinovic were the joint-leading scorers for Ahli with 16 points apiece. Another top Bahraini international, Nasser Anan, added 15 points in the win.

Also contributing for Ahli yesterday were Sayed Mohammed Al Abrar, Mahmoud Abdulhussain, Mohammed Habib and Hassan Shakhouri, among others.

It was Ahli’s third consecutive victory in the competition after opening with a loss.

That defeat was against Al Arabi SC of Qatar, but they quickly responded with back-to-back straight-set wins against home side Sohar SC of Oman and Shabab Al Hussain, before their triumph against Kuwait yesterday.

The Kingdom’s representatives have already secured a place in the tournament’s quarter-finals.

Their seeding will be determined along with their match-up in the last eight following the completion of the preliminary round’s fixtures, which will be tomorrow, when Ahli have a rest day.

The top four teams after a single round-robin from each of the two groups in this stage advance to the quarters. Group A features Al Rayyan SC of Qatar, Al Ibtisam of Saudi Arabia, Seeb Club of Oman, Baniyas SC of the UAE and Qadsia SC of Kuwait.

The last eight is scheduled for Friday, and then the semi-finals will be held the next day. The final and match for third place are slated for Sunday, the tournament’s concluding day.