Arabi go past Police to win 20th Emir Cup title

Al Arabi players and officials celebrate with Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA) president Khalid Ali Abdullah al-Mawlawi after winning the Emir Cup title yesterday. (Below) QVA president, FIVB president Ary S Graca and other officials at the final yesterday. PICTURES: Mamdouh

By Sahan Bidappa/Doha

This was expected to be a David vs Goliath contest, but what turned out yesterday was a battle of equals. The Police were gunning for their first Emir Cup volleyball title, while Al Arabi were the 19-time champions.

It hardly mattered, though, on the night as the Police team put on a fighting display. But still it wasn’t enough to stop Al Arabi from becoming the Emir Cup champions for 20th time, with the hosts winning a high-voltage final 23-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-21 here at the Al Arabi Sports Club.

It was Arabi’s first Emir Cup triumph since 2011 and their second title of the season having won the Qatar Cup. For Police, it was yet another disappointing end to the tournament, having lost all the four finals they have contested so far.

However, it was Policemen who made a head-start to the contest in front of a packed and extremely vociferous crowd. They took a 5-0 lead in the first set, hardly showing any signs of nerves for a team chasing their maiden title.

Leading their attack was Philip Rizlik, who was in fine form with his smashes and so was local lad Nader Aboubacker. Though, Arabi made a comeback towards the end, the Police kept attacking to pocket the first set. That raised the decibel level at the stadium, with the Police supporters, who were equal in numbers to the host fans, sensing their team’s victory.

But Arabi were right back in the contest in the second set, making their opponents work for every point. Both the teams were tied at 17-17 points each before Arabi opened up a crucial two-point lead as Police made couple of needless service errors. And that cost them the set and in the end match too as Arabi took the second set 27-25.

With that there was a spring in the step of Arabi players while their fans were back on their feet as well. Their two foreign players Juantorena Osmani and Jan Stokr too were finding their smashes, which were penetrating through Police defence and that showed in the third and fourth set.

The experience of Osmani and Stokr was crucial. The two ply their trades in Turkish and Russian leagues respectively and they showed their class by blocking and smashing brilliantly to lead Arabi to their 20th title.

Arabi’s Tunisian coach Mohamed al-Bahri was delighted with his team’s triumph but admitted he was worried on the eve of the final. His team had beaten two-time defending champions Al Rayyan and reigning double Federation Cup champions El Jaish en route to the final and al-Bahri felt that would make them complacent. “I was a little concerned that after two good wins against good teams my players would take it easy. But they showed how good they are today and I am very happy to finish the season on a high,” he said.

Police’s coach Jean Michelle Rocha rued his team’s costly misses in the second set and was disappointed not to break their Emir Cup drought. “We started very well. But the players made too many errors in the second set. The three to four service faults they made were silly and it cost us,” he said.

FIVB president Ary S Graca was the chief guest and he also gave away the awards. The winners Arabi became richer by QR500,000 while Police took home QR 250,000. Graca was impressed with what he saw. “It was a very high-quality final. The foreign players from both sides made it an international standard match. The Qataris will learn a lot by playing with foreign players,” the Brazilian added.

Graca praised Qatar’s infrastructure, calling it one among the best in the world but said it was too early to say if the Gulf state will host the World Championship in 2018. “It is an impressive facility but it’s too early for me to say whether Qatar will host 2018 World Championship. I don’t have a crystal ball to say. But what I can say is Qatar is capable of hosting any major event,” Graca said.