Dubai: Qatar captain Safiya Omar hailed her team’s spirit following their 3-0 victory over Kuwait in the 2nd GCC Women’s Volleyball Championships being held at Al Wasl Club.
Omar led from the front as Qatar bounced back from their 0-3 loss to hosts UAE on the opening day for a comfortable 25-14, 25-19, 25-10 win over Kuwait late on Thursday.
In an earlier match, Bahrain made their intent clear with a 25-20, 26-24, 25-16 win over Oman, who had started off strongly with a 3-0 win over Kuwait on the opening day.
“My team is learning all the time and we can only get better as the competition progresses,” Safiya Omar told Gulf News after former runners-up Kuwait had crashed to their second loss in as many days of this competition.
“The loss against the UAE was tough to take, but we just decided to go out there and give it our best shot. And tonight things just worked so well for us,” the Qatari captain said.
Qatar always looked the better side, with the youthful Kuwaiti outfit struggling to even receive serves. They got off to a comfortable win in the opening set, and apart from a late charge from Kuwait late in the second, Qatar had things wrapped up quite easily.
“We have not had the chance to prepare too well coming to Dubai. Three of our girls had just arrived straight from the airport for our opening match against the UAE, and possibly that affected our performance on the first day,” Safiya Omar said.
“But as the tournament progresses, I feel we can do better each day. We want to win this tournament and I believe anything is possible. All it takes is for the UAE to lose one match and we can be at the top,” she added.
Qatar were scheduled to play Oman, while Bahrain were due to take on the UAE in Friday’s matches.
Fixtures:
(November 25) Bahrain vs Qatar; UAE vs Kuwait
(November 26) Kuwait vs Bahrain; Oman vs UAE.
