Players of China celebrate during the 2022 Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup match between China and Bahrain in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand on August 9, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

China bounced back from behind to beat Bahrain 3-1 in the 2022 AVC (Asian Volleyball Confederation) Cup for Men on Tuesday.

In the opening set, Bahrain hit a winning serve when the score was 27-27, and then fended off the offense to take the set 29-27.

In the second set, China made good use of Bahrain's serving errors and widened the lead in the later part of the set with multiple blocking points, tying the match 25-19.

Bahrain was unable to improve their serving in the third set while China established the lead with blocking efforts again to win the set 25-19.

China seemed to be cruising to a victory when they piled up a 9-5 lead in the fourth set, but Bahrain rebounded to bring a tight game. Chinese hitter Zhang Jingyin made the difference toward the end. He first extended China's lead to 23-21 with a one-on-one block, then sealed the win at 25-22 with two spikes.

Both China and Bahrain qualified for the classification round where they will vie for two places in the final four with Iran and Pakistan. 

China also beat Chinese Taipei 3-1 in its opening match of the 2022 AVC Cup for Men here on Monday.

Xinhua