2011 Asian Men’s club Championship: Day 1 Recap – Volleyball News
The 2011 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship started off in Palembang, South Sumatera in Indonesia this previous Saturday, July 23. Teams from Kazakhstan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Iran, China, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Japan, Qatar, Myanmar,
and host Indonesia entered the competition in two pools. Each group accommodated six teams and the tournament was officially opened with the preliminary round. The first day of the 2011 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball championship featured three matches in each
pool and a total of six matches were played on Saturday.
Indonesia vs. Vietnam
Teams from Indonesia and Vietnam broke the ice in Pool A. The two rivals took centre stage in the presence of 1,300 spectators at the Palembang sports hall. A cracking volleyball scrimmage was staged for more than 1 hour and finally Indonesian side proved
to be better. They posted 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 21-25, 25-20, and 15-11) victory over competitors. Ramzil Huda and Agung Seganti played an instrumental role and contributed the most number of points for Indonesia. On the other hand, Quang and Van of Vietnam put
up good effort and fought till the end. Nonetheless, Indonesia took away the opening match with small margin of points.
Iran vs. Qatar
The same arena hosted the second match of the day and featured defending champion Iran against Qatar. The number of spectators decreased to just 400 people as the day got hot afterwards. Second match was long gruelling battle, while continued for 1 hour
and 36 minutes. Team Iran demonstrated a stellar performance and held off Qatar for 3-1 (25-19, 25-13, 17-25, and 25-17) victory. Peyman Akbari, the head coach of Iranian squad was delighted to witness the first win of his team in the tournament.
China vs. Afghanistan
Third match in the pool A was a one-side affair, where Team China launched complete authority on Afghani players. Chinese top guns took a little time to dismiss Afghanistan in the three-set play. Match ended in just 54 minutes, while China sent 3-0 (25-7,
25-13, and 25-15) on board. Struggling team of Afghanistan badly failed in the hands of Chinese players. The boys around Head Coach Wang Jiang were simply amazing in the match from start till end. They availed ever opportunity to score points and quickly put
an end to the game. Shen Qiong of China was the highest scorer of the match. He clipped 16 points via frequent attack attempts.
Kazakhstan vs. Myanmar
Pool A matches were followed by Pool B matches, where Kazakhstan faced off Myanmar in the opening match. A crowd of 500 was present in the Palembang Sport Hall in the afternoon. Kazak men started out well and kept the same momentum until end. Myanmar side
was regarded as underdog team and they couldn’t cope with the power of Kazak hitters. Match results were out after three-set game and Kazakhstan walked away with the tag of winners. They posted 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, and 25-20) victory over Myanmar.
Japan vs. Uzbekistan
In the overall fifth match of the opening day of 2011 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, Japan scored a wonderful victory over Uzbekistan. Japanese Takeshi Kitajima was totally on fire. He created enough trouble for opponents and added 15 points to
his team’s score. Uzbekistan attacked with Sergey Lavrik but Japan offered solid defence to stop their score. Japan posted 25-16, 28-26, and 25-22 in three respective set to claim the match.
Thailand vs. Turkmenistan
Thailand worked out a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, and 25-16) victory Turkmenistan in the last match of the opening day. The Thai team spiked it hard and achieved the desired results in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship opener.
The Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship serves the purpose of qualification tournament for international FIVB Men’s Club World Championship.
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