Al Nasr look ahead at domestic league after GCC disappointment

The Al Nasr Club volleyball team returned yesterday from Doha after participating in the 24th GCC Clubs' Championship that concluded last night.

Al Nasr finished fourth in the overall standings with eight points. They defeated Al Arabi of Kuwait, Sohar of Oman and Qatar Club, but lost to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al Muharraq of Bahrain.

Al Nasr's Korean coach San Ku Li expressed satisfaction at the team's showing. "We showed a good form despite finishing fourth. The tournament was one of the strongest in recent years.

"There was not much difference between the participating teams' standards. It's the first time in many years that the title was decided through a decisive match."

The Al Nasr coach felt his team could have made it to the final. "We lost a good chance to be in the final. The mistakes made by our players cost us dear. We should not have lost that important match against Al Muharraq after leading by two sets to nil and were just two points away from winning the match with the score in the third set reading 23-17 in our favour.

"However, the experienced Bahraini players recovered to win the set. Our players crashed out and lost the fourth and fifth sets to lose the match in a disappointing way."

The Al Nasr coach said he hoped the results of the GCC Clubs' Championship would not affect the players in the domestic league which Al Nasr are looking to win for the third year running.