Doha, Qatar, October 8, 2011 – Zenit Kazan, KS Jastrzebski Wegiel and Al-Arabi Doha opened the FIVB Men’s Club World Championship with victories on Saturday in Doha, Qatar.

Day two of the competition on Sunday includes a Pool B match between Sollys Nestle Osasco of Brazil and Chang Bangkok of Thailand at 10 a.m. in the women’s competition. Trentino Diatec of Italy officially open their tournament title defense on Sunday versus Al-Ahly Cairo of Egypt at 3 p.m., followed by Zenit Kazan of Russia versus Paykan Tehran of Iran at 5 p.m. and Al-Arabi Doha of host Qatar versus Brazil’s Sesi Sao Paulo at 7 p.m.

For additional information on the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, click here. For more informaton on the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, click here. For Daily Bulletins for the tournament, click here.

Al-Arabi Doha 3, Al-Ahly Cairo 2
Al-Arabi Doha of Qatar edged Al-Ahly Cairo of Egypt 25-23, 29-31, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12 in a tight battle full of emotion Saturday on the opening day of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship in Doha, Qatar.

Christan Pampel led Al-Arabi Doha with 30 points, while Jiri Popelka contributed 15 points and Gianluca Saraceni added 14 points.  Al-Ahly Cairo produced four points in double-figure scoring led by Ahmed Abdelhay’s 26 points. Ahmed Mohamad added 20 points, while Mohamed Ketat tacked on 17 points. The teams combined for 51 blocks with Al-Ahly Cairo scoring 24 and Al-Arabi 17. Al-Arabi Doha held a slim 6-4 margin in aces. Both teams scored 59 spikes in the match.

“We didn’t play well,” Al-Arabi Doha coach Adel Sennoun said. “I’m not satisfied with the performance of my team. We committed many mistakes, thus I think the final result should be three sets for us and none for them.”

 “It was a strong match,” Al-Ahly Cairo coach Ibrahim Mohamad said. “We played five sets against a team which has highly professional players. I would like to congratulate them for their performance.”

Zenit Kazan 3, Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver 0
Zenit Kazan of Russia defeated Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver of Canada 25-11, 25-15, 25-16 in the opening match of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship on Saturday morning in Doha, Qatar.

Zenit Kazan were led by Maxim Mikhaylov’s 11 points, including three aces. Alexander Gutsalyuk totaled 10 points including a three blocks and an ace, while teammate William Priddy contributed 10 points. Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver was paced by Steve Marshall’s 11 points, while captain Rudy Verhoeff charted 10 points. Zenit Kazan won the service battle with a 12-0 margin in aces and kept their errors to just 10 for the match. Trinity Western committed 20 errors in the match.

“The first match was a good experience and a chance to check the condition of all of our players,” Zenit Kazan coach Vladimir Alekno said. “We came here to win the title.”

“The speed of the Russia players was as fast as we expected,” Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver coach Ben Josephson said. “I am happy with my guys and hope we will do better in the next matches.”

KS Jastrzebski Wegiel 3, Paykan Tehran 0
KS Jastrzebski Weigel of Poland topped Paykan Tehran of Iran 25-18, 25-14, 25-14 opening day of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship.

KS Jastrzebski Wegiel’s Zbigniew Bartman totaled a match-high 11 points. Jastrzebski Wegiel produced a balanced scoring match as 11 of their players scored at least one point during the match. Paykan Tehran’s Reza Safaei and Hesam Bakhsheshi led their team with 7 points each. Jastrzebski Wegiel produced an 9-1 service ace advantage in the match and held their total errors for the match to 13 compared to Paykan’s 26.

“We knew that the Iranian team had some problems, but also my team have problems,” KS Jastrzebski Wegiel coach Lorenzo Bernardi said. “My players had gathered short time ago and they need to play more matches in order to gain confidence.”

“We started our training sessions 10 days ago and to participate in such a big competition you have to prepare yourself since two months ago,” Paykan Tehran coach Peyman Akbari said. “The team that we are participating today is 80 percent different from the last one we participated last edition. A lot of personal mistakes were the reason for this defeat.”

FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship Highlights

Top Scorers by Day
October 8: 30 – Christan Pampel (Al-Arabi Doha) vs. Al-Ahly Cairo on Oct. 8

Top Scoring Performances
30 – Christian Pampel (Al-Arabi Doha) vs. Al-Ahly Cairo on Oct. 8
26 – Ahmed Abdelhay (Al-Ahly Cairo) vs. Al-Arabi Doha on Oct. 8

Top Blocking Performances
7 – Mohamed Ketat (Al-Ahly Cairo) vs. Al-Arabi Doha on Oct. 8
6 – Lukasz Kadziewicz (Al-Arabi Doha) vs. Al-Ahly Cairo on Oct. 8
5 – Ahmed Mohamed (Al-Ahly Cairo) vs. Al-Arabi Doha on Oct. 8
5 – Tije Vlam (Al-Arabi Doha) vs. Al-Ahly Cairo on Oct. 8

Top Service Ace Performances
5 – Nikolay Apalikov (Zenit Kazan) vs. Trinity Western Vancouver on Oct. 8
3 – Maxim Mikhaylov (Zenit Kazan) vs. Trinity Western Vancouver on Oct. 8

Highest Set Score
31-19 – Al-Ahly Cairo def. Al-Arabi Doha on Oct. 8 (set 2)
26-24 – Al-Arabi Doha def. Al-Ahly Cairo on Oct. 8 (set 3)
25-23 – Al-Arabi Doha def. Al-Ahly Cairo on Oct. 8 (set 1)

Highest Scoring Matches
231 – Al-Arabi Doha def. Al-Ahly Cairo 25-23, 29-31, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12 on Oct. 8
121 – KS Jastrzebski Wegiel def. Paykan Tehran 25-18, 25-14, 25-14 on Oct. 8
117 – Zenit Kazan def. Trinity Western Vancouver 25-11, 25-15, 25-26 on Oct. 8