Dubai: Iran may currently be witnessing widespread political turmoil, but the nation's volleyball champions Paykan Tehran gave local Iranians something to cheer about as they romped to a fourth straight Asian Club Volleyball Championship title at Al Nasr Club.
The Iranians were so effective on the mats of the Hamdan Bin Rashid indoor complex that they shut out Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal midway through the first period and went on to win 3-0 in straight sets.
The victory helped Paykan to further strengthen their position as one of the most successful clubs in the history of the championships, Wednesday night's 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 rout taking their total title haul in the event to five.
Tournament favourites Paykan were expected to run through the Saudis, but it was the underdogs who broke away with four point lead at the time of the second technical time out.
The Iranians, though, did not sit back. Instead they stormed right back into it after the break, restoring parity at 16-16 and winning a further two points to go 20-18 up. Later, they added five more to their tally while Al Hilal won two and wrapped the first set 25-20.
Paykan stepped on to the courts all guns blazing in the second period and caused extensive damage to Al Hilal. They led the Saudis by seven points at one stage, but Al Hilal coach Jesus interrupted the flow with a time-out, and a rethink of strategy enabled him to cut the lead down to three. Paykan maintained that three-point lead to clinch the set 25-22 and go 2-0 up.
The story was much the same in the third period - Paykan in an unrelenting mood and Al Hilal fighting hard for each point but to no avail.
Paykan coach Karkhaneh Mostafa was all praises as his side defended their title for the third consecutive year.
"If anyone deserved to win this tournament, it was us. We were clearly the best side and we won our games without much of a fuss," said Mu stafa of Paykan's 3-0 result throughout the competition.
With Paykan and Al Hilal occupying the first two spots on the podium, and Qatar's Al Arabi beating hosts Al Nasr 25-19, 15-19, 25-15, to finish third, the event witnessed a repeat of the results of the 2007 edition.
Al Nasr were hapless against Al Arabi, whom they beat 3-2 in the second round of the competition.
Led by veteran Khalid Al Hosni and professionals Hisham Qammadi and Kristof Hoho of Algeria and Belgium, respectively, they failed to find form.
Instead, they sought to question decisions made by referee Shin Muranaka at regular intervals, until he was forced to flash the yellow card at Faraj Sami. Had Al Nasr canal ised their energies in the right direction, the scoreline would definitely have been much different.
