BAHRAIN’S hopes of fighting for the title in the 17th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship in Dubai were dashed yesterday, reports PATRICK SALOMON.
Facing a must-win situation against tournament surprises India, the nationals suffered a disheartening 1-3 (20-25, 23-25, 26-24, 26-28) defeat against their inspired counterparts.
The loss was the second for Bahrain in pool ‘J’ of the competition’s main round. The nationals had earlier lost to Australia.
They are now left to play in the classification bracket for as high as ninth position, while the Aussies and Indians march on to battle for a place in the semi-finals.
Also moving on to the round of eight were Thailand and Lebanon from pool ‘I’, Iran and South Korea from pool ‘K’, and Japan and defending champions China from pool ‘L’.
Bronze
The quarter-finals are scheduled for tomorrow, followed by the semi-finals the next night and then the gold and bronze medal matches on Sunday.
The nationals, coached by Tunisian Nezar Al Shakili, were hoping to claim their first-ever medal in the competition. They have participated in the event eight times now, and their best showing was in 1987 when they finished eighth overall.
In their loss yesterday, not even the best efforts of their star players such as Jassim Al Nabhan, Fadhel Abbas, Mahmood Hassan and Mirza Abdulla could get them over the hump.
After losing the first two sets, the Bahrainis battled back to win the third and keep their fading hopes of a victory alive.
In the fourth, the nationals were trailing 16-20 late on, but clawed their way to just a two-point deficit at 20-22.
Bahrain remained determined to stay in the match and fought hard over the next few exchanges.
A splendid three-man block tied the scores for the nationals at 24-all, and then an outstanding spike from Abdulla put them in the lead at 25-24, needing just one more point to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
But India scored the next two points, and even after Abdulla levelled the proceedings once again at 26-all, their rivals were just too good on the day and eventually secured victory.
The result left Bahrain in third place to end their campaign in pool ‘J’, ahead only of Qatar who lost to Australia in yesterday’s other fixture 0-3 (21-25, 13-25, 16-25).