“The hard-fought 25-20 25-16 22-25 20-25 16-14 win not only gave Varamin a sweet revenge for their 2-3 loss to the Japanese side in the top-8 playoff match last week, but also stretched title-holders Iran’s domination at the topflight competition to 14 overall including four times in a row,” reads a report by Asian Volleyball Confederation.
The 2019 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship was held on April 18 -26 in Taipei, Chinese Taipei.
The Varamin’s victory on Friday also smashed Panthers’ dreams of making history of handing Japan the Asian Men’s Club title for the first time. Since Japan’s debut efforts in 1999, teams from Japan had yet to win a title in this championship.
Earlier, Qatar’s Rayyan picked up bronze at the 2019 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship after a 3-0 (25-23 25-19 25-16) demolition of India’s Chennai Spartans in the third-place playoff.
FINAL RANKING
1. Cultural and Sports Club of Varamin Municipality (Iran)
2. Panasonic Panthers (Japan)
3. Al-Rayyan (Qatar)
4. Chennai Spartans (India)
5. Sri Lanka Ports Authority Sports Club (Sri Lanka)
6. Taichung Bank (Chinese Taipei)
7. Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
8. Queensland Pirates (Australia)
9. Polri Samator Indonesia (Indonesia)
10. Est Cola (Thailand)
11. TNC Kazchrome VC (Kazakhstan)
12. Galkan (Turkmenistan)
13. Dragon Team (Hong Kong China)
14. Club Singapore (Singapore)
The Iranian players also grabbed three individual awards, including the Most Valuable Player (MVP) which went to Alireza Jalali.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
BEST OUTSIDE SPIKER: Michal Kubiak (Panasonic Panthers) and Marcus Costa (Al-Rayyan)
BEST MIDDLE BLOCKER: Mohammad Razipoor (Varamin) and Rai Ashwal (Chennai Spartans)
BEST OPPOSITE SPIKER: Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic Panthers)
BEST SETTER: Parviz Pezeshki (Varamin)
BEST LIBERO: Takeshi Nagano (Panasonic Panthers)
MVP: Alireza Jalali (Varamin)
MAH/PR