MUSCAT: Seeb defeated Al Salam 3-1 in the final of the Ministry's Shield volleyball at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher on Sunday.
The closing ceremony was held under the auspices of Eng Omar bin Mahmoud al Mahrazi, CEO of the Sohar Free Zone and Deputy CEO of Sohar Port.
The match was a repeat of the First Division League final, where Seeb won the title against Al Salam 3-1. This is Seeb's third title this season after winning the Super Cup and the League. The match started with a serve by Al Salam's Murad Khan, who scored the first point of the match.
Seeb equalised with a point from a mistake by Murad. Al Salam then scored the lead point, but Seeb responded through Saud al Maamari to tie the score at 2-2. Al Salam then scored two points to take the lead, but Seeb reduced the deficit to 4-3 with a mistake from an Al Salam player. Al Salam then doubled the score with three points, but Seeb came back to take advantage of Al Salam's mistakes to take an 8-7 lead. The two teams continued to exchange points throughout the first set, which ended with a 26-24 win for Al Salam.
The second set started with a serve by Seeb, and Al Salam's Khalid responded with the first point. Al Salam's Amjad al Saadi then scored the second point, but Seeb equalised with two mistakes from Al Salam to make it 2-2. Murad scored the lead point for Al Salam, but Seeb responded with four points to make it 6-3. Al Salam then continued to lose points through several mistakes that Seeb players took advantage of to make it 12-7. Seeb continued to double the score, ending the set with a 25-16 win.
Al Salam started the third set with a serve and scored the first point. Seeb took advantage of a weak serve by Al Salam to equalise the score. Seeb players then scored the lead point, and Al Salam responded with a point to make it 2-2.
The two teams continued to exchange points until Seeb took a 6-5 lead. Seeb then doubled the score by scoring 7 points while Al Salam players scored 5 points to make it 13-10 for Seeb. Seeb players continued to raise points while Al Salam tried to come back in the last minutes of the set, but Seeb managed to end the set in their favour with a score of 25-21.
Seeb managed to open the scoring in the fourth set, and then doubled the score with two additional points while Al Salam scored one point to make it 3-1 for Seeb. Seeb responded with three additional points while Al Salam scored two points to make it 6-3. Seeb scored two points and Al Salam responded after a tactical change by the coach and scored a number of points to take a 10-8 lead.
Seeb managed to take a 5-point lead at 17-12. Seeb then came back with a strong performance to take a 21-19 lead, and then Seeb managed to snatch the fourth set 25-22. Thus, Seeb was crowned with the championship shield for the sixth time in a row.
At the end of the match, the clubs that won the top three spots were honoured. Champions Seeb received gold medals and the Ministry's Shield. Al Salam won second place and the silver medals, while Oman Club came in third and won the bronze medals.
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