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Women
One of the favourites for the title, Sollys Osasco scored their first victory by overcoming Federbrau with Brazilian international Natalia top-scoring in the game with 20 points while two players – Tapaphaipun Chaisri and Pleumjit Tinkaow – bagged nine apiece for Federbrau. The Asian champions battled hard and were level at 24-all in the second set, and also missed set points in the third.
Yet they were up against a Sollys Osasco side featuring some of the most accomplished and decorated Brazilian stars of the past few years – such as Jaqueline, Natalia and Thaisa – and a team, it should be added, who have travelled to Qatar with the clear aim of claiming the crown.
Mirador, meanwhile, were too strong for Kenya Prisons with Dominican Republic international Annerys Vargas topping the scoring with 14 points. A significant factor in the success of the Dominicans was the massive haul of African mistakes, however, totalling 22 in all. What the clubs have in common is a very young roster, with an average age of 23 years, and limited international experience; sadly for the Africans, the experience some of their players gained with Kenya's national team at the FIVB Women's World Championship Japan 2010 did not have too positive an effect here.
