Al Muharraq one match away from GCC Club volleyball title

Al Muharraq of Bahrain displayed their supremacy in the GCC Club Volleyball Championship with an emphatic 25-15, 25-22, 25-17 victory over Al Jahra of Kuwait yesterday at the Al Wasl Indoor Stadium.

The six-times champions, who are unbeaten so far in the event, has virtually taken a firm grip on the title, with only one match remaining for them to be played. Today, the winners take on Al Wasl in the final match of the Championship.

Al Wasl, in the second match of the day, overcome a spirited display by Al Arabi from Qatar 25-15, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19 to register their third victory of the tournament.

Al Ahli from Saudi Arabia too scored their third win of the championship trouncing Sohar from Oman 25-16, 25-14, 25-17 in the final match of the day.

Al Muharraq led from the start in the first game. Lanky Mohammed Jasim sparkled with some brilliant smashes. Though Al Jahra fought gallantly in the second game through a few unreturnable smashes to the back of the court from Saeed Karim, Al Muharraq clinched the second game 25-22.

Following a pep-talk from coach Mohammed Murbati, Al Muharraq won the third game without giving Al Jahra the slightest chance to comeback into the match.

The second match of the day saw Al Wasl start off brilliantly but dipped a bit before clinching the match. For the home team, Ahmed Al Fardan was superb with his smashes while skipper Arif Rajab blocked well. Al Arabi's Yousuf Saud did his best to block some of the fierce shots from Mohammed Rashid Al Mari, while Saeed Salim used his height to score some good points. Yet, the first game was a cake-walk for the home team.

Following the facile win, the Al Wasl players slackened a bit and committed a series of unforced errors.

Al Arabi equalled at 17-17 but due to two wrong services at a crucial stage of the game, they let the home team off their grip. Khalfan helped the home team scrape through, 25-23, with a sizzling smash.

Instead of learning from the mistakes they committed more errors in the second game. Some of the smashes from Al Wasl too went off the mark. The tall and lean Ali Omar of Al Arabi used his height to find the gaps and scored a few valuable points. Once again the score was tied at 17-17, but this time, Al Arabi players held together brilliantly to cover up the gaps and win 25-21.

The home team, cheered by their supporters, raced off to a quick 11-5 lead in the fourth game. They kept their grip on the match with strong blocks at the net. Meanwhile, skipper Arif added some quick points using some deft drop shots to catch the rivals on the wrong foot.

With Al Wasl and Al Ahli having won equal number of matches, today's matches will be crucial for the teams in determining their positions in the championship.

Today's matches:

4.30pm: Al Ahli vs Al Jahra; 5.30pm: Al Arabi vs Sohar and 7pm: Al Muharraq vs Al Wasl and to be followed by the closing ceremony.