Bank Sarmayeh and Al-Arabi remain only two unbeaten teams at Asian Men’s Club Championship

Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, August 27, 2016 – Bank Sarmayeh and Al-Arabi Sports Club remained  the only two undefeated teams as the “SMM” 2016 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship reached crunch time with eight teams left to battle it out for the top honour and the lone ticket for next year’s FIVB Men’s Club World Championship.Contesting the 1st-8th playoffs in Pool F at the Wunna Thekdi Indoor Stadium Hall B in Nay Pyi Taw on Saturday, Iran’s Bank Sarmayeh, who featured six Rio-bound Iranian players and were strengthened by Pole Lukas Zygadlo and Montenegrin import Vojin Cacic, overcame a strong challenge from Japan’s Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza to edge out the team which finished second in Pool B in the preliminary round in four sets 3-1 (28-26, 25-18, 23-25, 25-13) in 110 minutes.Also making their mark in the top-notch tournament by not losing a match are Al-Arabi Sports Club, who finished second last year. The Qatari side defeated Vietnam’s Maseco TPHCM in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-19).In the first encounter, Bank Sarmayeh proved a cut above Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza to beat their Japanese counterparts 3-1. Shahram Mahmoudi led Bank Sarmayeh with 20 points including 19 kills from 32 attempts, while Croatia import Igor Omrcen, who played his first match of the tournament on Saturday, top-scored with 19 points for Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza.“The Japanese team are different than the other teams we met in the three previous matches. Japan lost in the preliminary round and now they have to play their best in order to beat us. They played in risky ways and very hard and that’s why they used Igor Omrcen who sustained an injury in the match against us today. This probably will be their last chance in this tournament. However, Japan are always a truly respected team,” said Iranian coach Mostafa Karkhaneh.“To be the champions here, we have to play our best with good teamwork. I hope we will continue this form until the end. We next will play Taiwan Power from Chinese Taipei. I don’t think it will be easy for us. In this round every match is always difficult,” he added.Shanghai Golden Age of China, who had already suffered their first loss to Al-Arabi Sports Club in the preliminary pool play, struggled to beat hosts Myanmar in four sets in Pool E 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 25-14). The Chinese side made a brilliant start to take the first two sets 25-19, 26-24, thanks largely to the splendid performance of Hungarian-born German Gyorgy Grozer and Dai Qingyao, who scored …

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