CAIRO, 12 November 2007 — Asian Games bronze medalists Saudi volleyball team are now back persistent and strong to do even better at the 11th Pan Arab Games in Egypt.
Once again these spikers succeeded to bring joy to the Saudi delegation even before the official opening of the games. They won the first of three preliminary matches against Libya 3-0 on Thursday and outplayed their favorite whipping team Qatar 3-1 (25-23, 22-25,25-12, 25-18) on Saturday.
The Saudi team’s third preliminary game is set for today against Jordan at 5 p.m. (Saudi time).
Though the game did not have many spectaculars at the beginning when Qatar ended the second set and drew 1-1, the hall was almost full by the end of the third when Saudi closed the set at 25-12. A nice gesture from the host country was made when they started to let in school children to cheer for the teams to boost their spirits. At the third Qatar bounced back in the beginning but failed to surpass Saudi.
A few minutes before the last set ended the referee misjudged the final point for Saudi, which upset the team, yet Saudi were holding their temper and continued playing and managed to win 25-18.
“If they clapped this much it means they have enjoyed and I am glad the spectaculars loved our boys playing,” said Serbian coach Radoslav Svircev of the Saudi national team after their second game. “It was a terrific game, both teams were prepared and trained very well and gave their best,” he said. It was not an easy competition but the athletes agreed they always enjoy facing Qatar due to Qatar’s high performance, which excites the game.
New talents were seen during the game and the coach explained, “Saudi volleyball is improving and we have to give a chance to the new ones who work hard to prove themselves in order to keep volleyball progressing here.”
Svircev also added the competition will be hard with the Egyptian team considering they are the hosts and it will be hard for them to give the victory to other country, “however, we will continue to do our best.”
