Altay-VC
By relying on attacking abilities of Ukrainian receiver Vasyl Tupchii (missed the 2017 CEV European League where his national team took gold medal by beating Spain in the finals 3-1), who poured 23 points (5 kill blocks), Altay stunned Chinese runners-up Beijing (came to the tournament without foreign players) 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-14) to advance to the semi-finals. Yin Jie contributed with 11 points for Beijing. The downfall of Beijing began already in the Classification Round (second stage, after Preliminary Round) when they lost all three games in their pool and qualified for the quarter-finals only as the last placed team.
In the semis, Altay will face Japanese silver medalists Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza , who easily eliminated hosts Vietnam Sport Club 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-21).
Defending champions, Sarmayeh Bank of Iran, continued their unbeaten run in the tournament by knocking Iraqi Al-Bahri Sport Club out by a 3-1 (25-12, 25-13, 23-25, 25-16). Shahram Mahmoudi was the top scorer of Sarmayeh with 16 points. Omar Ali Ahmed led Al-Bahri with 14 points.
Sarmayeh will meet Al Arabi SC Doha in the semi-finals, as Qatari team (led by German György Grozer and Cuban Salvador Hidalgo) smashed Taichung Commercial Bank of Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-16).
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