Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2016 - Al Arabi Club turned in a dominant performance to defend the prestigious Emir’s Cup Volleyball Championship with an unexpected straight-set victory over El Jaish on Friday.
At the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, a big crowd watched the final that was won by Al Arabi with a 21-19 25-21 25-17 scoreline. This was their third successive victory in the major event and overall a 22nd Emir’s Cup title in 28 finals.
Al Arabi Club’s opposite Ivan Zaytsev, who plays for Dynamo Moscow, spiked and served quite well to collect 16 points. He took the Man of the Final and claimed QR10,000.
Qatar Olympic Committee Secretary-General Dr Thani Abdulrahman al Kuwari presided over the closing ceremony and presented the awards. QVA President Khalid Ali al Mawlawi, QVA Secretary-General Mohammed Ali al Mohannadi, Ali Haider and Suleiman Haider from main sponsors Suliman Brothers were also present on the occasion. Al Arabi Club took home QR500,000, while El Jaish collected QR250,000.
Besides Zaytsev, Yoandry Leal Hidalgo and middle player Ibrahim Mohamed also imposed themselves and gained 12 and 10 points respectively for the champions. Setter Seifeddine Elmajid, another middle player Ahmed Bassam and libero Mohamed Abderrahman were also impressive.
For El Jaish, whose plan was upset by their poor reception, Robertlandy Simon was the star player again, winning 17 points. But on Saturday night, he lacked the desired support from Oreol Camejo and Bojan Dokic. While Camejo got only six points, Dokic landed four. Othman Abdulwahid also earned four.
This was the eighth match and second final between the two teams in the season. Al Arabi entered the match with a 4-3 edge, winning both the League encounters, QVA Cup group match and one of the three Qatar Cup semi-final playoffs.
Credit must go to El Jaish for regrouping and delivering big blows to Al Arabi. They won the QVA Cup final against them, besides knocking Al Arabi Club out of the Qatar Cup semi-final playoffs with 2-1 result.
Al Arabi Club controlled the opening set right from the start. Using hard service and clever net play, especially by Renan Rebeiro, Ibrahim Mohamed and Ahmed Bassam, they enjoyed the lead and shot five points clear (15-10).
This, coupled with sound defence, was more than enough to keep Al Arabi Club rolling and their opponents under pressure throughout. Later one of the two dumps by setter Seifeddine Elmajid not only fetched them the set point, but also put them 1-0 ahead.
Al Arabi Club looked more fluent and dangerous with all-round volleyball in the second set. After some initial resistance, Al Arabi Club cleared five points again 19-14.
Camejo and Simon sparked a rally and El Jaish came within a point of drawing level (22-21).
At this stage, two brilliant smashes, especially the second one off a fine retrieve by Rebeiro, brought them up to 24-21. Then Simon spiked the ball into the net and Al Arabi grabbed a commanding 2-1 lead, raising hopes of a 3-0 finish.
Al Arabi completed the rout, working diligently on widening the gap steadily in the third set. From 4-4, they began increasing the lead and were 11-8 ahead before jumping to 13-9. Then they raced away to 17-10 advantage with Hidalgo excelling.
Soon Al Arabi gave finishing touches to their famous triumph and sealed their 22nd title.
A delighted Zaytsev commented after the final, “It was really very good match because of our high level of motivation and feeling on the court. It was really a great victory for us.
“We took the revenge for the Qatar Cup semis and as I said in the press conference that our service would be the key, it happened exactly like that. We showed a lot of aggression from nine-metre line which upset El Jaish.
“Everything began with our strong service. This helped us stop Simon as their setter set a lot of balls out of three metres,” added Zaytsev.
Al Arabi Club Coach Lajnef, “By God’s grace, we proved to everybody that we’re the best. This is very important title for us. We’d made some mistakes in the Qatar Cup. We corrected our errors in the Emir’s Cup final and we’re really very proud to have won it again.
“I was expecting a much tougher match against El Jaish. But we were fantastic at the court and won in straight sets,” added the coach.
Rebeiro said, “We had more balance in the team than before. The team played a high level volleyball and that was it. We played with a lot of aggression. We also showed our strong bench strength.
“The Qatar Cup semi-finals loss was a bit too tough for us to swallow. However, we settled our score with El Jaish, winning in the final of the biggest event in Qatar,” added Rebeiro.
Al Arabi’s middle player Ibrahim was also thrilled with another victory. “It was a high-level display by us. We crushed them in the beginning and did not give them any chance for comeback. This was really the feature for us.”
El Jaish coach Zohair Belhadj said, “Al Arabi played well and they deserved to win. Our strength has been to fight back and resist the rivals. Sadly, we could not do it today.
“I was feeling that we are physically drained out. We knew that if Al Arabi played well in the final, we won’t be able to bounce back. I am happy with my team’s performance in the season.
“Yes, I’m indeed satisfied with the report card of the season - we featured in three finals in the seasons and emerged winners in one of them - the season-opening QVA Cup,” the El Jaish mentor added.
Result
Emir’s Cup Volleyball final
Al Arabi Club beat El Jaish 25-19 25-21 25-17 in one hour & 14 minutes
Teams
Al Arabi Club: Juma Faraj, Seifeddine Elmajid, Renan Rebeiro, Amro Hisham, Mohamed Abderrahman (L), Ahmed Bassam, Thiago Oliveira, Ibrahim Mohamed, Jorge Gonzalez Garcia, Yoandry Leal Hidalgo (pro) and Ivan Zaytsev (pro)
Head Coach: Maaouia Lajnef. Team Manager: Abdulla Jassim al Kuwari
El Jaish: Marko Stevanovic (L), Adnan, Mohammed Anbar, Emir Makas, Mubarak Abdulrahman, Oreol Camejo (pro), Bojan Dokic, Milos Stevanovic, Ilija Ivovic, Youssef Aghlaf, Robertlandy Simon (pro), Mohammed Abuwatfa and Papemagutte Diagne
Head Coach: Zohair Belhadj; Team Manager: Khalid al Kaabi
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