2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup

The 2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup was the inaugural edition of the AVC Challenge Cup, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and that year with the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVF). The tournament was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 15 to 21 September 2018.^[1]

2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup

Tournament details
Host nation	Sri Lanka
City	Colombo
Dates	15–21 September
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1
Champions	Iraq (1st title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Third place	Sri Lanka
Fourth place	Bangladesh
Tournament awards
MVP	Ahmed Albakheet
Official website
2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup
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Qualification

Main article: 2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship

  Qualified

8 AVC member associations qualified for the 2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup. Sri Lanka qualified as hosts and the 3 teams were qualified from the 2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship while 4 teams were new entrants. The 8 AVC member associations were from 4 zonal associations, including Central Asia (2 teams), East Asia (2 team), Southeast Asia (1 team), and Western Asia (3 teams). Fiji and Uzbekistan withdrew from the tournament.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

Means of qualification	Births	Qualified
Host country	1	Sri Lanka
Central Asian teams	1	Bangladesh
		Uzbekistan
East Asian teams	2	Hong Kong
		Mongolia
Oceanian teams	0	Fiji
Southeast Asian teams	1	Malaysia
West Asian teams	3	Iraq
		Saudi Arabia
		United Arab Emirates
Total	8

Pools composition

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

Pool A	Pool B
Sri Lanka (Hosts)	United Arab Emirates
Malaysia	Bangladesh
Hong Kong (16)	Iraq (13)
Saudi Arabia (15)	Mongolia

Preliminary round

Pool standing procedure

1. Number of matches won
2. Match points
3. Sets ratio
4. Points ratio
5. Result of the last match between the tied teams

Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	3	0	9	9	3	3.000	287	240	1.196	Quarterfinals
2	Sri Lanka (H)	3	2	1	6	7	3	2.333	236	211	1.118
3	Malaysia	3	1	2	3	4	6	0.667	211	234	0.902
4	Hong Kong	3	0	3	0	1	9	0.111	203	252	0.806

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Pool standing procedure
(H) Host

15 September 16:00	Sri Lanka	3–0	Hong Kong	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–15, 25–20, 25–22) P2 Report

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15 September 18:30	Malaysia	1–3	Saudi Arabia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(17–25, 15–25, 25–18, 17–25) P2 Report

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16 September 16:00	Sri Lanka	3–0	Malaysia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–16, 25–18, 25–23) P2 Report

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16 September 18:30	Hong Kong	1–3	Saudi Arabia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(18–25, 25–22, 22–25, 15–25) P2 Report

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17 September 16:00	Malaysia	3–0	Hong Kong	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(30–28, 25–19, 25–19) P2 Report

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17 September 18:30	Saudi Arabia	3–1	Sri Lanka	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(22–25, 25–22, 25–19, 25–20) P2 Report

Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Bangladesh	3	2	1	7	8	4	2.000	267	251	1.064	Quarterfinals
2	Iraq	3	2	1	6	8	5	1.600	281	259	1.085
3	United Arab Emirates	3	2	1	5	6	6	1.000	269	272	0.989
4	Mongolia	3	0	3	0	2	9	0.222	239	274	0.872

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Pool standing procedure

15 September 10:00	Bangladesh	2–3	Iraq	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–20, 18–25, 17–25, 25–21, 9–15) P2 Report

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15 September 13:30	United Arab Emirates	3–1	Mongolia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(31–29, 25–22, 20–25, 25–21) P2 Report

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16 September 10:00	United Arab Emirates	0–3	Bangladesh	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(22–25, 16–25, 18–25) P2 Report

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16 September 13:30	Mongolia	0–3	Iraq	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(14–25, 20–25, 19–25) P2 Report

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17 September 10:00	Iraq	2–3	United Arab Emirates	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(18–25, 26–24, 25–23, 22–25, 9–15) P2 Report

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17 September 13:30	Bangladesh	3–1	Mongolia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–22, 25–23, 23–25, 25–19) P2 Report

Final round

Final eight

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	19 September – Colombo
	Saudi Arabia	3
					20 September – Colombo
	Mongolia	0
					Saudi Arabia	3
	19 September – Colombo
					Bangladesh	1
	Hong Kong	0
									21 September – Colombo
	Bangladesh	3
									Saudi Arabia	2
	19 September – Colombo
									Iraq	3
	Sri Lanka	3
					20 September – Colombo
	United Arab Emirates	0
					Sri Lanka	1
	19 September – Colombo
					Iraq	3			3rd place match
	Malaysia	1
									21 September – Colombo
	Iraq	3
									Bangladesh	0
									Sri Lanka	3

	5th–8th semifinals				5th place match
	20 September – Colombo
	Mongolia	2
					21 September – Colombo
	Hong Kong	3
					Hong Kong	2
	20 September – Colombo
					United Arab Emirates	3
	United Arab Emirates	3
	Malaysia	1
					7th place match
					21 September – Colombo
					Mongolia	0
					Malaysia	3

Quarterfinals

19 September 10:00	Saudi Arabia	3–0	Mongolia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–17, 25–17, 25–15) P2 Report

19 September 13:30	Malaysia	1–3	Iraq	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(27–25, 21–25, 23–25, 20–25) P2 Report

19 September 16:00	Sri Lanka	3–0	United Arab Emirates	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–20, 25–17, 25–15) P2 Report

19 September 18:30	Hong Kong	0–3	Bangladesh	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(22–25, 21–25, 16–25) P2 Report

5th–8th semifinals

20 September 10:00	Mongolia	2–3	Hong Kong	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(21–25, 25–20, 26–24, 17–25, 10–15) P2 Report

20 September 13:30	United Arab Emirates	3–1	Malaysia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(21–25, 25–23, 36–34, 25–21) P2 Report

Semifinals

20 September 16:00	Sri Lanka	1–3	Iraq	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–22, 24–26, 20–25, 20–25) P2 Report

20 September 18:30	Saudi Arabia	3–1	Bangladesh	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–15, 21–25, 25–12, 26–24) P2 Report

7th place match

21 September 09:00	Mongolia	0–3	Malaysia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(19–25, 30–32, 29–31) P2 Report

5th place match

21 September 11:00	Hong Kong	2–3	United Arab Emirates	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–21, 17–25, 25–22, 25–27, 7–15) P2 Report

3rd place match

21 September 13:30	Sri Lanka	3–0	Bangladesh	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(25–16, 25–17, 25–17) P2 Report

Final

21 September 16:00	Iraq	3–2	Saudi Arabia	Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo
	(14–25, 25–14, 25–16, 26–28, 15–13) P2 Report

Final standing

Rank Team  Iraq  Saudi Arabia  Sri Lanka 4  Bangladesh 5  United Arab Emirates 6  Hong Kong 7  Malaysia 8  Mongolia

2018 Asian Challenge Cup champions  Iraq First title 14–man roster Safaa Lafta Majeed (c), Hussain Nameer Shamil, Husam Abdulsamad, Mustafa Ghani Hussain, Mustafa Hameed Jabbar, Abbas Abdulkareem, Murtadha Zuhair Mohammed, Islam Sachit Challab, Aymen Ali Muslim, Falih Mohammed Saleh, Ali Lafta Majeed, Riyadh Azeez Mohammed, Ali Sahib Abushanan, Osama Munef Sabbar Head coach ALAA KHALAF A.

Awards

Most valuable player Ahmed Albakheet Best outside spikers Deepthi Romesh Horosit Biswas Best setter Mustafa Haneed Jabbar

Best opposite spiker Hussain Nameer Shamil Best middle blocker Ibrahim Majrashi Islam Sachit Challab Best libero Lakmal Wijesekara

See also

• 2018 Asian Women's Volleyball Challenge Cup
• 2018 Asian Men's Volleyball Cup