JEDDAH, 10 June 2007 — On their second attempt Al-Hilal still couldn’t find a way to beat defending champions Paykan of Iran and settled for the silver medal in the 2007 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Juffair Youth Center in Manama Bahrain.
Hilal lost to Paykan, the only team to beat them in the group stage, in the final on Friday in straight sets 25-13, 25-23, 25-17.
Hilal were looking to add a fifth championship this season in their collection following successes in the GCC volleyball championship, Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Cup, Saudi Volleyball League and the Saudi Volleyball Federation Cup. Instead it was Paykan who won for the third straight time in the tournament. If it was any consolation, Hilal returned home yesterday lugging the best server and best setter awards courtesy of Ahmed Al-Bikhit and Khalil Hijji. Al-Arabi of Qatar placed third after crushing Al-Najmah of Bahrain earlier on Friday.
Against Paykan Hilal seemed to put too much pressure on themselves to win and by trying too hard their game suffered.
Hilal led 10-8 in the second set and drew level at 9-9 in the third. Those were the only occasions did the Riyadh-based squad show some fight as the Iranians dominated the rest of the way.
Despite their defeat in the final Al-Bikhit gave Hilal a reason to celebrate when he got an offer to play for an Italian club. He also received an offer from Al-Rayyan club of Qatar to play for them in the Emir of Qatar Volleyball Championship, which will kick off next week.
Cash incentives were given to the team from Hilal honorary member Ahmed Al-Muqrin who awarded the athletes $ 1,000 each for qualifying to the final, in addition to $ 1,000 when he attended their first match. Saud Al-Gharir, another honorary member of Hilal club, also donated SR 50,000 to the team. Hilal finished the group matches with a 4-1 record. They beat Al-Najmah 3-1 in the semifinal to pave the way for a rematch with Paykan in the final. Paykan qualified by crushing Al-Arabi 3-0 in the second semifinal on Thursday.
