Men's Volleyball Club World Championships: Ahmedabad Defenders bow out after losing to Sir Sicoma Perugia

Indian volleyball club Ahmedabad Defenders bowed out of the Men's Volleyball Club World Championship on Friday.

The Ahmedabad Defenders lost against reigning champions Sir Sicoma Perugia 0-3 (25-18, 25-19, 25-11) in the final match of Pool A at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru. The home team played catch-up with the Italian club in the first game until 12 points before Cuban Opposite Jesus Herrera Jaime unleashed his searing spikes to widen the lead.

The contest was dominated by the Italian southpaw duo of Herrera and Oleh Plotnytskyi, who shared 25 points between them. Herrera grabbed 16 and Oleh took nine. Sicoma's star setter Simone Giannelli was substituted in the middle of the first set with Gregor Ropret to give the latter some game time before the knockout stage.

Ahmedabad Defenders stepped up to their potential with Manoj leading the points in attacking (7). Star outside hitter Amit Gulia and opposite Ramaswamy Angamuthu picked up five and six points, respectively. It was certainly a leading curve for the Indian club, which became the first team to represent the country at the prestigious event.

Ahmedabad Defenders lost to Itambe Minas in their first game of the tournament, though they spiritedly fought in the first two games but ran out of steam in the third.

Sir Sicoma Perugia topped the points table and will face Turkish club Halkbank Spor Kulubu in the semi-final on Saturday.

---

Halkbank Spor Kulubu pips Sada Cruzeiro Volei to enter knockouts

In what was the biggest upset of the tournament, Halkbank Spor Kulubu beat four-time world champions Sada Cruzeiro Volei 26-24, 25-18, 28-26 in a rather dominant fashion.

It was a must-win game for the Turkish giants if they wished to stay alive in the tournament. They moved to second position, level on points (3) with the Brazilian club. Halkbank advanced to the semis based on a better point ratio of 0.986 to 0.964.

Suntory Sunbirds top the Pool B charts with four points. Though they lost to SDC in their second game, the Japanese club ensured to snatch a bonus point by forcing the match to a decider (fifth set).

Sunbirds will face another Brazilian club, Itambe Minas, in the second semi-final match of the World Championship 2023 on Saturday.