BY DENZIL PINTO
DOHA: Qatar’s Al Arabi kept their semi-finals hopes alive with an easy straight-set victory over Zamalek of Egypt at the FIVB Club World Championships yesterday.
The 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 result eliminates Zamalek who lost their opening match against PGE Skra on Saturday. Al Arabi must get a positive result against PGE Skra in their final Pool B match tomorrow at Aspire Dome.
Elsewhere, PGE Skra edged Zenit Kazan 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-19, 15-10) in a five-set thriller. The result puts the Polish club on top of Pool B.
In the women’s event, Sollys Nestle of Brazil came from behind to claim a place in the semi-finals. The Brazilian club defeated Rabita Baku of Azerbaijan 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-20).
In Pool B, Turkey’s Fenerbache began their campaign by thrashing Lancheras of Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-13).
In the first match of the day, Zamalek were sloppy, conceding too many errors which allowed the Qatari side lead 8-7 in the first set at one stage.
Having increased their lead to 16-12 at the second time out session, a block by Ribeiro Renan and an ace from Mohammed Ibrahim gave Al Arabi a seven point lead at 23-16. The Asian champions wrapped up the first set, despite points from Zamalek’s Reda Haikal and Mohammed Badawy.
Al Arabi carried their good form into the second set, with spikes from Ahmed Al Baket and Christian Pampel.
The Qatari side had a five point lead at 16-11 when the second time out was called.
Trailing 19-13, Zamalak’s coach, Mohamed Ellakany called for a time-out. However, the Egyptian club failed to take advantage and Matti Oivaen secured the second set for the Asian champions.
In the third set, Oivanen scored his eleventh point of the match to wrap up the win for Al Arabi.
Captain Saeed Al Jamaani said: “I’m happy for the victory as it will motivate us for the next match against a very strong team, PGE Skra, but our coach knows how to deal with each match. I hope we make it to the semi-finals.”
In the other men’s match, having lost the first set, PGE Skra’s players battled back from 14-19. With players from both sets contributing to points, PGE Skra had the edge claiming the second set.
Despite Zenit winning the third set, PGE Skra battled to claim the fourth.
Trailing 9-13 in the decider, Zenit could not find a way past PGE Skra. Aleksanda Atanasijevic scored the match point to claim a remarkable victory.
In the women’s match, Sollys committed too many errors giving the first set to Rabita.
The Brazilian club found their rhythm in the second set with Sheilla Castro adding three spike points.
Sollys continued to add points with Fabiola Sousa scoring an ace at 23-16.
Rabita rallied back with four straight points, but were unable to win the second set.
With Sollys winning the third set, captain Jacqueline Carvalho helped her side take an 11-5 lead in the fourth.
Sollys piled on the pressure at 16-10 to the Brazilian club. Rabita battled back with Angelina Hubner-Grun helping her side.
However, the Azerbaijani club had no answer to the attacking threat of Sollys, with Thaisa Menezes scoring her team’s twentieth point in the fourth set.
The Brazilian club finally claimed match point in front of 330 spectators.
Elsewhere, Fenerbache were dominant in their win over Lancheras, giving away just 12 points compared to 20 by the Puerto Rican club.
Despite Lancheras’ Jessica Jones’ efforts, her team could not cope with Fenerbache’s attacking threat.THE PENINSULA
