Sri Lanka Ports Authority fought hard till the end in two losing causes in the 2017 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship pool A matches.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority was pitted against Al-Bahri SC of Iraq and Vietnam SC of Vietnam in the two pool games.
Ports Authority – Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship 2017
Sri Lanka Ports Authority Volleyball team took wing to Vietnam yesterday to participate in the Asian Men’s Club…
Ports Authority v Al-Bahri SC
Iraq’s Al-Bahri Sport Club revived their fortunes at the SMM 2017 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship following a hard-fought 25-21 25-21 25-23 victory over Sri Lanka Ports Authority.
Al-Bahri Sport Club, stunned 1-3 by hosts Vietnam Sports Club in their opener the previous day, turned things around to take the first two sets with the similar margin 25-21, 25-21.
However, Sri Lanka Ports Authority showed their good fighting spirit in the third set, hoping to bring back their good form. But their determined efforts did not bear fruits. In some crucial moments, the Sri Lankans committed some easy mistakes and the Iraqi side seized the chance, taking advantage of the rivals’ errors to win the tight set 25-23 and match.
“After going down to hosts Vietnam on Wednesday, my players improved a lot and played a good match against the Sri Lankans. In fact, I think Sri Lanka Ports Authority are a good team with some good players, so we tried to attack them more on the side-out,” said Al-Bahri Sport Club’s head coach Mohammed Awfi after the match.
“My players did a good job on reception and attacks, especially outside the net. We prepared seriously for two months for this tournament as we have set our goal to finish among the top 5 teams in this championship,” he added.
Vietnam SC v Ports Authority
Vietnam SC defeated Sri Lanka Ports Authority 3-1 to top pool A and qualify for the top 8 places matches in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship.
Vietnam SC secured a comfortable 25-19 first set before Ports Authority turned the tables on them to win the 2nd set 17-25.
The 3rd set was an intensely contested one where the hosts won 26-24. Vietnam SC held off a strong challenge once again in the 4th set to win 25-20.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority will now battle against the likes Yan Chai SC (Hong Kong), Canberra Heat (Australia), Air Force SC (Thailand), Maldivian Sports & Recreation Club (Maldives) for 9-13th places.
Results
