Volleyball: Al Arabi down Al Rayyan to win Qatar Cup

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Al Arabi rallied from behind to defeat Al Rayyan 3-1 to retain the Qatar Volleyball Cup at the Al Arabi Stadium here yesterday.

In a fortune fluctuating final, defending champions Al Arabi playing on their home turf won 24-26, 25-23, 27-25 and 25-23 to deny the newly-crowned league champions Al Rayyan a double.

Al Rayyan began their pursuit for a second title in right earnest and pocked the first set, which turned into a touch and go affair.

In a match that saw the momentum constantly changing in the first two sets, the defending champions lost the first set closely, but came back strongly to win the next three.

Rayyan started well in the first set as the two sides kept pace with each other until the first 20 points. The league champions then stepped up the intensity and clinched the set 26-24 as they took advantage of some missed serves by Al Arabi.

The next set was also keenly fought as both the teams were tied till 23-all and after that Arabi held their nerves to finish the set 25-23.

After winning the third set 27-25, confident Al Arabi close out the match in the fourth set as they gave very little chance to Al Rayyan after 14-14 to finish it 25-23.

Kenyan Philip Maiyo and Cuban Yadrian Escobar Silva were the stand-out performers for Al Arabi as they smashed with precision.

Maiyo went on to clinch the Best-player-of-the-final award and received a cash prize of QR 10,000.

Rayyan's professional players Cristian Savani and Jan Stokr and Mubarak Dahi Waleed tried to lift Rayyan game with blocks and spikes from the middle

The winners received a cheque of QR 3,00,000 while the runners-up got QR 150,000.