Rafail Koumentakis punches through the block of John Chogbo and Ratmt Wadidie in one of the rare occasions that Greece's attack got the better of the Qatar block.
Thessaloniki, Greece, June 25, 2016 - Qatar overpowered Greece 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 26-24) to prolong the home side's agony in the quest for a ticket to the Final Four of FIVB World League Group 3.
Greece would now need to beat Slovenia, the only undefeated team in the Group and already qualified to the finals in Frankfurt, on the closing day of the Thessaloniki pool on Sunday, or wait for a combination of other results in the Tunis pool. It was Qatar's second win in their debut World League season, but the Asian side is out of contention for a ticket to the Final Four.
After being completely outplayed in the first two sets, thanks mostly to their powerful attack and dominant blocking, Greece tried to react in the third, briefly leading 22-19 and even had a set ball at 24-23, before Qatar replied with a block of John Chingbo on Andreas Frangos, a kill by Bojan Djukic and a spike that went depressingly wide by Rafail Koumentakis.
Qatar put up an impenetrable block, with 17 kills. Greece's first and only block came midway through the third set. The Asian side also dominated the attacking with a kill ratio of 53% (34/64) to Greece's poor 42% (36/86).
Top scorer of the game was Qatar sub Ratmt Wadidie on 14 points, with Ibrahim Ibrahim adding another 13. Andreas Frangos scored 11 for Greece.