DOHA, 8 December 2006 — Whatever happens the Saudi volleyball team would have had accomplished something to be proud of in the Asian Games. A victory over Lebanon in straight sets yesterday gave Saudi Arabia a sweep of the Pool A preliminary matches to advance into the knockout stage of the competition.
The overachieving spikers were not expected to reach this far considering the depth of the opposition. They did not even merit a second look against India, but passed the test against this team ranked fourth in Asia and 25th in the world.
The first Saudi national team to reach Doha and play ahead of the Games opening ceremonies, the volleyball squad also beat Kuwait and the UAE for an immaculate 4-0 record that set them up to a quarterfinal showdown after qualifying first from Pool A against Asia’s No. 1 Japan.
Serbian coach, Radoslav Svircev, who has been training the Saudi volleyball team for almost three years, points to the team spirit as the most important factor for their success.
“I try to gather players of the different clubs within one Saudi team that work together to bring the best results,” he says.
“I think the game we played with India on Monday was the best game ever played by the Saudi volleyball team,” he adds. In the GCC level the Kingdom volleyball team won the championship in 2005.
“You cannot predict winning or losing in volleyball. It depends on the performance. If we performed well, we will win and be qualified for the finals,” said team captain Esmael Al-Khaibary, 31, of the Kingdom’s chances against Japan. “I feel that our performance is excellent so far. God will help us in the upcoming matches. I think that our level of play in the Asian Games so far was a big surprise and we hope to still come up with a bigger surprise. “
Besides the GCC championship, the Saudis also clinched the silver medal in the Arab Championship in Bahrain this year.
They had a very short period to train for the Asiad. They started from the third day of Eid Al-Fitr when they went to Czech Republic for two weeks and headed immediately to Bahrain to participate in the Arab Championship. After Bahrain, the team traveled directly to Doha for the Asian Games. “The period of training was short and somehow put pressure on them,” said team manager Saleh Saad Al-Qasem.
“Most of the players in the team are married with children and have family commitments. Being far away from their homes all that long period from Eid Al-Fitr in late October until the end of the Games affects them negatively,” he said.
