NET DUAL: Action from the Emir Cup Volleyball match between Police and Al Rayyan yesterday. PICTURE: Jayaram

By Yash Mudgal/Doha

Defending champions Al Rayyan and El Jaish launched their Emir Cup volleyball campaigns on a winning note here at the Al Arabi Indoor Hall yesterday.

Newly crowned Qatar Volleyball league champions Rayyan defeated qualifier Police 3-1 (25-21, 21-16, 18-25, 25-18), while Federation Cup champions El Jaish defeated Gharafa 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-16) in the Group ‘A’ matches.

The league and the Heir Apparent Cup champion Rayyan, who are eyeing a domestic treble this year, won the first two sets easily, but Policemen aided by some powerful smashes by seasoned Nader Aboobacke and John Chigbov put up a better display in the third set to win it 18-25. The Policemen took an 8-4 lead in the set and were so dominant that they finished the set 18-25 in 20 minutes.

However, Rayyan sealed the match by winning the fourth set 25-18.

Rayyan trio of Osman Ajab, Ali Ishaq and Sulieman Saeed were in full flow in the first two and the fourth sets.
 The trio was also well supported by Cuban import Micheal Sanchez, who played superbly at the crucial moments of the match.

Libero Mosbah nicely set it up for the trio and the way he passed it on to Sulieman, especially with short balls, was commendable. Rayyan will now meet Gharafa on Wednesday.

Earlier, in the first match of the day, Jaish, who finished fourth in the league, brushed aside qualifier Gharafa to register the first win of the tournament. It was a tight early in the first set as Gharafa ran off six points in a row, thanks to their attackers, to make it 14-7 lead.

However, Jaish came back strongly to score seven straight points and won the set 25-20. In the second and third sets Jaish players were in their elements and finished off the match in 55 minutes.

Jaish coach Adel Sanoun said: “It was good start for us. We didn’t want the match to be stretched to the decider and things went according to the plan.

“We are hoping for a better show in the last event of the domestic season. We are taking it match by match. We have cleared our first hurdle and now we will concentrate on our next match which is against Police on Wednesday.”

The teams will play single round-robin league in the group before two top teams enter the semi-finals, which are also single match shoot-out. The semi-finals will be cross match ups with the Group ‘A’ top team taking on the No 2 of the Group B and vice versa.

Qatar Sports Club (QSC) will take on Al Ahli, while Al Arabi will lock horns with Al Sadd in the Group ‘B’ matches tomorrow.