JEDDAH, 4 June 2007 — Saudi and Gulf champions Al-Hilal downed Asia World of Myanmar 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21) for their third straight victory yesterday in the 2007 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship held at the Juffair Youth Center in Manama, Bahrain.
Bracketed in Group B, Hilal hope to gain at least a tie for one of two semifinal berths in the group when they face Paykan of Iran today. They wind up the group stage of the competition with a match against
Shanghai Oriental of China tomorrow. Wednesday is a rest day. On Thursday the top two teams from each group compete in the semifinal while the final is scheduled for the following day. Hilal’s two other victories came against Al-Arabi of UAE 3-1 on Friday and against Rahat-CSKA of Kazakhstan 3-1 on Saturday. Save for the second set that they lost Hilal were effectively in control of the match.
Hilal nursed leads of at least at least two or three points in the first set and from a 21-18 edge Naif Al-Bouhassoun closed the set 25-20 in favor of Hilal. After Myanmar took the second set 25-23 Hilal annexed the next two to put away the match. Unlike the third set where things went smoothly Hilal were tested in the fourth frame. The scores tossed back and forth but Merza gave Hilal the marginal points after the last tie at 20-20.
Teams in Group A include Garuda of Indonesia, Al-Arabi of Qatar, Suntory Sunbirds of Japan, Sang Som of Thailand, AGMK of Uzbekistan, and hosts Al-Najma of Bahrain. Hilal won the tournament with four professionals the first time they participated in 1997. They now only have two pros on the team — proof of the Saudi volleyball players’ progress, according to Saudi volleyball national team manager Saleh Al-Qasem, who is in Manama to lend moral support to Hilal team. “They are strong and well prepared to compete and win the title. They no longer fear Asian teams and are capable of adding a new victory to their club and country,” Al-Qasem said over the phone from Bahrain.
The Saudi delegation consists of Mansour Al-Sharif, delegation head; Ali Al-Hazzazi, administrator, coach Moro, assistant coach Abdul Aziz Al-Qumaizi, Dr. Walid Makki, and players Ahmed Al-Bikhit, Yassir Al-Makawni, Yahya Hanash, Naif Al-Bouhassoun, Khalil Hijji, Ibrahim Al-Harbi, Sharif Al-Khalifah, Munir Abu Al-Raha, Abdulrahman Saad, Thamir Al-Dossari, Mohammed Bakur and professionals Tunisian Nouralddein Hafiz and Serbian Merza. Having disposed of last year’s runners-up Rahat Hilal’s real test in the competition is likely to come from defending champions Paykan. Players who represented the Kingdom and placed third in the 15th Asian Games last December form the nucleus of the Hilal squad that Al-Qasem said “are persistent and their goal is to compete in the World Cup, and they will soon.” Hilal recently ended the Saudi volleyball season winning the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Cup, Saudi Volleyball League and the Saudi Volleyball Federation Cup, as well as the GCC Championship. The team are looking to add a fifth title this year in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship.
