Qatar finally broke into the win column at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Wednesday, ending its 2025 campaign on a high note with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 victory over Romania in the final Pool B contest at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
In only its second appearance at the World Championship, Qatar overcame a slow start, powered by Youssef Oughlaf’s offense, to secure its first-ever win at the international tournament. The team had gone winless in three matches during its debut in 2022.
The Qatari spikers shifted momentum in the second set after rallying from a 20-22 deficit with a 5-1 run, capped by a decisive attack from 36-year-old Nikola Vasic that leveled the match.
Qatar carried its momentum into a tight third set and, thanks to a pivotal 4-0 scoring burst, took a 20-16 lead with Mohamed Ibrahim firing an ace. The team comfortably closed out the set 25-20 to take the lead.
In the fourth set, Qatar jumped to a 4-0 start, forcing Romania to play catch-up. The Romanians threatened late, moving within one point at 22-23 on a Bela Bartha spike, but Ribeiro Renan quickly extinguished the threat with a key play that ended Romania’s 3-0 run and gave Qatar match point. Renan then delivered the winning point with a kill block on Cristian-Daniel Chitigoi.
“Alhamdulillah, finally. We are very happy. Second World [Championship]. The first one, we just won two sets. In this one, we were just winning one set only. And in the last game against a huge team that [is doing very well in the Golden League in Europe],” said Qatar coach Camilo Soto.
“It was very important. First, the victory. And second, the quality of the opponent. That's very good… We are very happy [with the win].”
Qatar closed the tournament with a 1-2 record, while Romania returned home winless at 0-3 in their first World Championship appearance since 1982.
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