Bank Sarmayeh, Shanghai set up mighty clash and Al-Arabi challenge Toyoda at Asian Men’s Club Championship semifinals

Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, August 29, 2016 – Unbeaten Bank Sarmayeh and Shanghai Golden Age set up a clash of the titans, as a daunting task awaits Al-Arabi Sports Club when the Qataris will challenge Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza from Japan in the do-or-die semifinals of the “SMM” 2016 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday.Iran’s Bank Sarmayeh, who have not yet lost a match in the top-flight tournament, pulled off a comfortable straight-set 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-18) victory over Vietnam’s Maseco TPHCM in the knockout quarterfinals on Monday.Fielding a formidable line-up consisting of Shahram Mahmoudi, Milad Ebadipourgharah, Farhad Ghaemi, Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi Sayed, Ali Shafiei and Pole Lukasz Zygadlo, Bank  Sarmayeh got off to a brilliant start with the first two-set 25-18, 25-16 wins, thanks to their excellent teamwork including the solid blocks from Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi Seyed and  Lukasz Zygodlo and thundering cross-court spikes by Ali Shafiei and Shahram Mahmoudi.In the third set, the Iranians gained the upper hand when they took an early 3-0 lead, courtesy of three consecutive ace serves by Ali Shafiei. Jalali Alireza, substituted to play in this set, proving he was a major force for the Iranians to be reckoned with. He put Bank Sarmayeh in front 24-17. The Iranians allowed the Vietnamese side only one more point before Iranian setter Mehdi Mahdavi finished the set 25-18 and match with his spike down in the mid court to help Bank Sarmayeh secure a semifinal berth.Ali Shafiei scored a team-high 13 points for Bank Sarmayeh, while Nguyen Trung Nam led Maseco TPHCM with 13 points, all of them from his devastating attacks.“I am very happy for our victory today. We would like to give more opportunity to the bench players to play and rest some key players. The next match is very important for us. We still don’t know which team we will meet in the semifinals because we played the first match of the day. However, I expect a tough match out there. We will try to achieve our goal; that is to win this tournament,” said Iranian coach Mostafa Karkhaneh.In Tuesday’s semifinals, Bank Sarmayeh are due to take on Shanghai Golden Age of China, who struggled hard to beat Altay VC from Kazakhstan in their quarterfinal encounter in well–earned four sets 3-1 (29-27, 23-25, 36-34, 25-23) in 130 minutes.Hungarian-born German Gyorgy Grozer scored a match-high 33 points for …

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