Qatar defeated Pakistan in the final of the fourth edition of the AVC Challenge Cup 2024 in Isa Town, Bahrain on Sunday, June 9 with a score of 3-0.
Qatar won all of the sets with scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-19 to take the title home for the first time.
Pakistan came into the finals undefeated in the Asia AVC Challenge Cup as they defeated Kazakhstan by 3-0, Thailand by 3-0, Vietnam by 3-2 and South Korea by 3-1 in the semi-final.
Whereas Qatar won three of their four games in the tournament losing against South Korea in their first match by 3-2. They won their games against Indonesia, China and Kazakhstan in the semi-final with scores of 3-0, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
Qatar and Pakistan have previously played two volleyball games and Qatar outclassed Pakistan in both of them with scores of 3-2 and 3-1.
Pakistan is ranked at No. 47 at the World Volleyball rankings while the AVC Challenge Cup 2024 winners are ranked at No. 21.
It is a major win for Qatar as Pakistan is the only team that had remained undefeated in the AVC Challenge Cup 2024 and Qatar also bounced back after their defeat against South Korea in their tournament opener.
The AVC Challenge Cup began in 2018 and so far four editions of the tournament have been conducted. Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand and Qatar have won one title each in 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively.