CHENNAI MAKE HISTORY TO BECOME INDIA’S FIRST CLUB TEAM IN TOP FOUR AT ASIAN MEN’S CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

India has reached an important milestone when Chennai Spartans became the first club team from India to enter the semi-finals of the 2019 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship after outclassing Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City in straight sets 25-21 25-18 25-21 in their quarter-final clash at the University of Taipei (Tianmu) Gymnasium on Wednesday.

Raja Naveen scored a team-leading 17 points for Chennai Spartans including 15 attacks from 20 attempts, while Nguyen Van Hanh led Ho Chi Minh City with 12 points, all from attacks.

In the first set, Chennai mixed fine attacks from Vinith Jerome and Latvian Sorokiins Ruslans with some solid blocks from Rai Ashwal and GS Akhin for the set win 25-21.

Both teams opened up strongly to level at 10-10 in the second set,but shortly after that Chennai Spartans broke away with exceptional fast attacks from GS Akhin and powerful cross-court attacks by Raja Naween. Ho Chi Minh City regrouped and hit back with sharp spikes from Nguyen Van Hanh. However, with Jerome carrying out powerful jump serves and Canadian Rudy Verhoeef attacking powerfully, the Indians took the comfortable set 25-18.

Chennai Spartans fielded most substitutions in the third set including V. Hariharan, Ajith Lal C and A Karthik, but still made a superb start to stay a six-point clear at 15-9 before Ho Chi Minh counter-attacked gallantly to narrow the margin 23-20. However, the Indians picked things up and fought back heavily to clinch the thrilling set 25-21 and match.

After the match, Chennail Spartans were on cloud nine as it was the first time ever that a club team from India have come this far. India made their debut effort in the 2005 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in Pakistan, where they returned with the bottom 7th place.

India sent their club team to this topnotch competition again in 2012 and 2013 in China and Iran, where ONGC finished 8th at both occasions. After that, they stopped sending teams to this competition until this year when Chennai Spartans, winning the inaugural RePay Pro Volleyball League in India this February, represented India in Taipei.

“It was our great result so far in this tournament as we now among the top four teams such like powerhouses Japan, Iran and possible Qatar. We played bad only in the first match and then we picked it up to win the remaining matches. Until now we have reached the semi-finals for the first time in India’s history. My players came here on April 13 and had a short period of time to train together as a full team here, just two days ahead of the competition. I think my players played well in this match in terms of the quality and strategic plan,” Chennai Spartans head coach Dr M. H. Kumara commented after the match.

Following the significant success of Chennai Spartans in this topflight competition, Mr Sivapragasame Rajasekaran, Chairman of Chennai Spartans and himself an international volleyball player participating in various international matches globally, and Dr. Uppiliappan Gopalan, Chief Brand Officer of Chennai Spartans, mentioned that India is in the right thresholds of entering the global stage of volleyball and the team are in-form to contest tough matches squarely.

“This is a great achievement for India. We are representing the nation here. First victory of Chennai Spartans was the Pro Volleyball League that we played in India, which featured a total of six strong teams and Chennai won the cup out there. By winning the League, we qualified for the Asian Men’s Club Championship here. It’s a great moment. It’s a master prize of us to represent India among 14 teams here.

“It was history for India to make it to the semi-finals and I think it’s the biggest achievement. At this moment, I would like to take the name of Mr Vasudevan, President of the Volleyball Federation of India because, without this motivation, I don’t think the Indian team can come this far. Previously, we did not have the kind of leadership and that’s why India stood a little chance of sending club teams to this championship. Now, the Federation has the able leader like Mr S. Vasudevan, who wants to take Indian volleyball to the level of the world’s best league. I believe for more years to come, we will see more successes under his leadership,” Dr. Uppiliappan Gopalan said.

TNC KAZCHROME TASTE FIRST WIN AGAINST CHENNAI SPARTANS AT ASIAN MEN’S CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Taipei, Chinese Taipei, April 18, 2019 – Slovakian-born Boris Kempa handed TNC Kazchrome VC crucial 19 points as the Kazakh side outclassed India’s Chennai Spartans in straight sets 25-21 25-20 25-17 on their opening match at the 2019 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship at the University of Taipei (Tianmu) Gymnasium on Thursday.

Kempa’s 19 points came from 13 attacks from 17 attempts and 5 aces, while Jerome Vinith led Chennai Spartans with 11 points including 9 kills from 19 attempts.

TNC Kazchrome VC fielded many star spikers including Maxim Michshenko, the tall and towering Dmitriy Vovnenko, whose amazing height average of 212cm made him the tournament’s tallest player, and Anton Kuznetsov who led Atyrau to the silver medal at the previous edition in Myanmar last year, while Latvian Sorokins Ruslans, Canadian Rudy Verhoeff and the 204cm-tall GS Akin spearheaded Chennai Spartans.

The clash was initially expected to be a tight battle between the two sides as they were searching for their taste of first win in this top-flight tournament. However, TNC Kazchrome defied all the odds and managed to power past their lower-ranked rivals in comfortable straight sets

Despite a poor start to trail the Indians from the beginning of the first set, devastating left-hander Boris Kempa seemingly gave TNC Kazchrome some breathing space as he hit spike after spike to put the Kazakh side in front 12-9. Chennai Spartans quickly hit back, with GS Akhin using his height advantage to attack effectively at the net to help his team narrow the gap 18-21. Michshenko was looking increasingly dangerous from spike range as Kazchrome still kept their noses in front at both technical timeouts. The Kazakh side took the first set 25-21.

Conceding one set, Chennai Spartans were helped by the excellent defensive work of Latvian Sorokins and libero CK Ratheesh in the second set as the Indians gradually grew in confidence and played better to narrow the margin 16-17. The Kazakh team continued their mighty attacks, with Michshenko and Kuznetsov putting the team on the brink of the set. The Kazchrome’s challenge at the ball in-ball out was successful, giving them a commanding 24-20 lead and the Indians’ erratic netplay a moment later ended the set for the Kazakhs as they claimed the second set 25-20.

The third set turned out to be a one-sided battle as Chennai Spartans made a dismal start to trail in a wide margin 0-5. They tried to claw their ways back into game, but failed to make the best of their chances. Kazchrome easily won the set 25-17 and a convincing three-setter.

“We did take a long trip from Kazakhstan to Taipei and that’s reasons why it was very difficult when we played our first match. We spent two weeks in training intensively in preparation for this championship. I think It’s one of significant tournaments for my players to come and gain new experience here. Since there are many strong teams here, it’s interesting to take on all these teams. Against Qatar’s Al-Rayyan Club in our next match, it’s too early to say anything about our expectation. We will do our best ,” TNC Kazchrome’s head coach Sergei Gribov commented after the match.

SEMI-FINALS CONFIRMED AFTER ACTION-PACKED MATCHES AT FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD TOUR SATUN 1-STAR

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour SMM Pak Bara Beach Satun 1-Star has reached its climax on Wednesday when teams from Iran, Thailand and Kazakhstan all pulled out comeback wins to secure the men’s semi-final spots, with Ukrainians breezing past Hungarians in an all-European duel to clinch the remaining berth for the Thursday morning’s semi-finals.

The women’s event saw Vanuatu, Chinese Taipei, Colombia and Ukraine pairs through to the Thursday’s semi-finals, with Ukrainians Diana Lunina and Maryna Samoday advancing without sweating as they won by forfeit because of an unexpected injury to Russians Anastasiia Frolova and Aleksandra Ganenko.

Another scorching hot day smashed Pak Bara here on Wednesday with temperatures peaking at more than 33 degrees Celsius. However, the searing heat could not dampen the determined players’ enthusiasm and spirit to come up with their best form on the penultimate day of the one-star, double-gender competition.

Third seeds Rahman Raoufi and Abolhamed Mirzaali, who stormed past local hopefuls Banlue Nakprakhong and Narongdet Kangkon 2-0(21-15, 21-16) in the Round of 12, stunned top seeds Arash Vakili and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun in a tightly-contested all-Iranians encounter, producing a magnificent come-from-behind 2-1 (19-21, 21-19,16-14) victory in the quarter-finals.

Ukraine’s Denys Denysenko and Vladyslav Iemelianchyk also won their quarter-final encounter without a hitch following a 2-0 (21-12, 21-13 ) victory  against Hungarians Artur Hajós and Balázs Benko to advance to the semi-finals.

“We did not expect an easy match,” said  Denysenko after the win. We tried to stay focused as we want to win this match and we really did. I hope that we can show our best to win again tomorrow (Thursday). The Hungarians are a young team and they have been playing well in this tournament. They played at the Youth Olympic Games, but today it was not their day. My partner and I have been playing together for one year and this is our first time to play here in Pak Bara. The organization here is very good. We love playing in Thailand.”

The remaining two teams marching to the men’s semi-finals were the host team and Kazakhstan.

Kitti Duangjinda and Dunwinit Kaewsai outlasted Phichakon Narathon and Phanupong Thanan 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-8) in the all-Thais battle.

“We felt a bit under pressure before the match as we have known each other very well,” said Dunwinit.

“We did not control the ball well enough in the first set but we tried again and were able to play according to our own game in the second set. I am very happy to play in the semi-finals. I have trained hard for a long time and almost the whole year before this tournament. I teamed up with my partner just for three months. To play in the semi-final is beyond my initial expectation and the next match is a bonus. We will try our best in our next match.”

Kazakhs Dmitriy Yakovlev and Sergey Bogatu rallied from one set down to beat countrymen second seeds Alexandr Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko 2-1(14-21, 21-19, 15-11 )in a hard-fought three-set thriller.

Iranian pair Raoufi and Mirzaali will go up against Thai duo Kitti and Dunwinit in the first semi-final match on Thursday at 9.40am local time, followed by the match between Ukraine’s Iemelianchyk and Denysenko and Kazakhstan’s Yakovlev and Bogatu at 10.30am.

Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, Colombia’s Galindo sisters, Claudia and Andrea, cruised to the semi-finals following a hard-earned 2-1 (15-21, 21-19,15-11) win over Chinese Taipei’s Yu Ya-Hsuan and Pan Tzu-Yi.

“I am very happy to get the victory and through to the semi-finals,” said Claudia.

“It was a very tough game for us because Chinese Taipei are a team with great technical skills. They moved very fast on the court and placed and dug the ball well. They are a very solid team. We have worked really hard, so to play in the semi-finals is a good prize for us and our country.

Promising Miller Pata/Sherysyn Toko still keep their hopes on playing in the final showdown alive as the Vanuatu’s duo continued their unbeaten run on Wednesday after a 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) rout of Russians Ekaterina Filina and Ekaterina Zazhigina.

“We came here to win some matches, but now we are in the semi-finals. So, I feel really happy. Our next opponents are very strong but we will try our best to beat them for a place in the final,”said Pata.

Ukraine’s Diana Lunina and Maryna Samoday and Chinese Taipei second seeds Kou Nai-Han and Liu Pi-Hsin booked the other two semi-final spots.

Kou and Liu fought hard in a tough match against Francesca Kiran and Olivia MacDonald, rallying from a 20-22 loss in the closely-contested opener to beat the Kiwi pair in the remaining two sets 21-15 and 15-10, while Lunina and Samoday had a field day as they made it to the semi-finals by forfeit because Russians Anastasiia Frolova and Aleksandra Ganenko decided to pull out of the competition due to an injury.

In the Thursday’s semi-finals, Colombia’s Claudia Galindo and Andrea Galindo are due to take on Vanuatu’s Miller Pata/Sherysyn Toko at 8am local time, while Ukraine’s Diana Lunina and Maryna Samoday will challenge second seeds Kou Nai-Han and Liu Pi-Hsin from Chinese Taipei at 8.50am.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour SMM-Park Bara Beach : Favourites cruise through the Qualifications on Day One

Hsu Chen-Wei and Wu Shian-Shian of Chinese Taipei advanced to the men’s main draw of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour SMM-Park Bara Beach Open 1-Star after registering two victories including a dramatic tiebreaker win against team-mates in the Monday’s qualification.

Hsu and Wu needed 58 minutes to first beat Hungarians Botond Ola and Bence Attila Streli 2-1 (24-22 24-26 15-9) and later struggled hard to beat Wang Chin-Ju and Hsieh Ya-Jen in hard-fought three-setter 22-20 18-21 17-15 in the all-Taiwanese battle.

Also reaching the men’s main draw were Austria’s Jakob Reiter/Simon Baldauf, who first edged past Japan’s Koichi Nishimura/Daisuke Shibata 2-0 (21-17, 21-16). In their second match, the Austrian duo faced a stern test against Andrey Bolgov and Vladislav Ermilov and brought out their best to defeat the Russians in hard-fought three-set thriller 23-21 14-21 17-15.

“It was amazing,” said Jakob after the win. “We did not expect to qualify to the main draw because we lost to the Russian team two months ago. It was a really big fight as we thought but we never gave up easily. This is our first time here and it is our big tournament in the World Tour. I am very happy and now let’s see how far we can go.”

Russia’s Danill Kuvichka/Anton Kislytsyn and Hungary’s Artur Hajos/Balazs Benko won both the matches played in the qualification to secure the main draw spots.

The Russians won against Norway’s Jorn Olav Gamlemoen and Christian Helland 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) and Kazakhstan’s Alexey Kuleshov and Artem Petrossyants 2-0 (22-20, 21-18), while the Hungarians defeated Canada’s Adam Thompson and Hugo Ross-Bonneau 2-0 (21-11, 24-22) and Kazakhstan’s Nurdos Aldash and Abdulmajid Mokhammad 2-0 (21-14, 21-15).

In the women’s event, four main draw spots were available from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Satun 1-Star qualification. Two Russian pairs and one team apiece from Canada and Hungary have secured their places in Tuesday’s main draw.

Canada’s Rian Lenarduzzi/Devon May narrowly beat the Kazakhs Alina Rachenko/Yelizaveta Yeropkina 28-26 23-21 to later pull out a hard-fought three-set 21-10 21-23 15-13 win against Swedes Sara Malmstrom/Fanny Linidstrom.

The other three winning pairs who recorded two wins to qualify for the main draw were Hungary’s Dorottya Szabo/Dominika Hafra and two Russian teams, Anastasiia Frolova/Aleksandra Ganenko and Ekaterina Filina/Ekaterina Zazhigina.

Frolova and Ganenko started with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) win over Hong Kong’s Wai Yan Au Yeung and Yung Yung Koo, then completed their successful run in the qualification round with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) victory over Israel’s Sofia Starikov and Anita Dave.

Filina and Zazhigina faced Israeli pair Noy Chorin and Noga Maor and recorded a 2-0 (21-10, 21-18) win before outclassing Latvians Varvara Brailko and Anete Namike 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) in the second round.

Hungary’s Dorrotya Szabo and Dominika Hafra also won both their matches in straight sets. The Hungarians triumphed against Singapore’s Eliza Chong and Ng Serene 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) and Switzerland’s Kim Huber and Melina Hubscher 2-0 (22-20, 21-16).