Arabi spikers eye semis in world club meet.

RAAJIV TRIPATHI DOHA Al Arabi Sports Club is eyeing a best four finish in the upcoming FIVB Men's Club World Volleyball Championship, being revived after 17 long years. Club coach Mohamed al Bahri of Tunisia asserted this in a media meet at the club on Sunday. "Our realistic aim is to be among the top four teams in the championship. We started our preparations last month in which our focus was on the fitness. In the second phase of our training, we addressed our team work. And our advance preparation will concentrate on the technical aspects," said al Bahri, revealing about the progress of the team for this prestigious event, due to start at the Aspire indoor hall here on November 3. "The key issue is how well we are able to use the Golden Formula system which will be applied during the championship. For all the eight participating teams, the system is new and the outfits have to find way through this. So it will be quite interesting to see how the teams adopt themselves to the tournament rules," said the coach of the Qatari national champion team. The Golden Formula, invented by Qatar Volleyball Association's Technical Director Hussein Imam Ali, has been developed to give equal chance to both contesting teams with the service-receiving side having to hit first smash from behind the first line. Once this is done, the rest of the game will follow the prevalent rules. On being asked if the Golden Formula, which was devised here in Qatar, was going to help his team, al Bahri denied, saying, "The Golden Formula is new to all teams. We knew about it but this will be put in practice for the first time in this championship. However, I feel that we have devised some methods to exploit it. It all depend on our players," said al Bahri, mixing caution. The Al Arabi coach, talking about the other teams in the group, said the Polish team (PGE Skra Belchatow) is very strong. "I feel our chances against Asian champion Iran's Payakan and the South American team (which is yet to qualify) are strong. We have to focus on those two matches," continued al Bahri. "We're getting into a good shape. Our confidence level is rising with each day. We're working hard on our technical combinations and hope that we've talent to achieve our goal of a place in the semifinals. We've contracted Cuban player Harnondes Osvaldo for this championship. "We're also getting another experienced player from Cuba. I will not name him right now. His arrival will be a big boost to us," added al Bahri. It is speculated that the second player from Cuba is Walter Garcia. The third foreign player in the team is Bahrain's young player Mohamed Fadhel Abbas. During the match, only two foreign players can be on the court. Talking about the team's plan before the championship, al Bahri disclosed Al Arabi would play eight matches to fine-tune itself further. "We have finalised to play practise matches against Egypt's Zamalek. We'll go to Egypt and play four matches there. And then Zamalek will figure in the return matches in Doha," added the coach. Zamalek is in the Group A along with Trentino Volley (Italy), Dinamo Kazan (Russia) and Corozal (Puerto Rico). Also present on the occasion was Al Arabi captain Saeed Salim and team manager Abdulla Mohammed Jassim al Kuwari. Salim thanked the QVA officials for getting a rare chance to play in this high-profile championship and added the team was ready to face off with strongest teams of various continents. "Our national players are back and our training is in full swing. There is no doubt about our fitness and we've worked well together as a team. We know each other's play and strengths but when you're talking about the best club teams in the world, you have to raise your game," said Salim. "We've had three weeks of intensive training and we've three more to go. We're putting absolutely everything we have into this tournament. Every member of the squad is committed to giving more than 100 percent. "We've also gained a lot of respect from international clubs for our performance over the years and now we have the chance to prove that we can rise to the challenge when the pressure is really on. It's going to be a great tournament and I think Qatar would be proud of us," added Al Arabi captain Salim.

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