Japan’s Suntory Sunbirds beat Turkey’s Halkbank Spor Kulubu in straight sets in the opening Pool B match of the men’s Volleyball Club World Championship in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (Volleyball News)
Sunbirds, the first Japanese side to participate in the Club World Championship, took time to find their feet but were able to turn the tables midway through the opening set and went on to win 25-23, 25-23, 25-16 in just over an hour to clinch three full points.
According to the tournament format, the winning team gets three points only if they drop one or no sets.
Such a result for Sunbirds didn’t look possible during the initial exchanges of the opening set.
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Despite a couple of service errors, Halkbank looked in control with a four-point advantage at 18-14 before Sunbirds turned the tables with their strong blocking and smart attack from Russian Dmitriy Muserskiy and outside hitter De Armas Berrio Alain Junior of Cuba.
Muserskiy, a 2012 Olympic gold medallist, went for the big spikes from the right while Alain Junior came up with smart angles to deceive the opposition blockers.
With the momentum completely in their favour, Sunbirds began the second game with a lot more confidence and whatever pressure Halkbank would build on them was released thanks to their service errors.
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Overall, the Turkish team was guilty of 17 service errors with the captain Nimir making five mistakes in his 13 attempts across three sets.
