# 2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup

The 2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup was the inaugural edition of the AVC Challenge Cup, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and that year with the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVF). The tournament was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 15 to 21 September 2018.

## Qualification

8 AVC member associations qualified for the 2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup. Sri Lanka qualified as hosts and the 3 teams were qualified from the 2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship while 4 teams were new entrants. The 8 AVC member associations were from 4 zonal associations, including Central Asia (2 teams), East Asia (2 team), Southeast Asia (1 team), and Western Asia (3 teams). Fiji and Uzbekistan withdrew from the tournament.

### Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.
| Means of qualification | Births | Qualified |
| Host country | 1 | Sri Lanka |
| Central Asian teams | 1 | Bangladesh |
| Central Asian teams | 1 | Uzbekistan |
| East Asian teams | 2 | Hong Kong |
| East Asian teams | 2 | Mongolia |
| Oceanian teams | 0 | Fiji |
| Southeast Asian teams | 1 | Malaysia |
| West Asian teams | 3 | Iraq |
| West Asian teams | 3 | Saudi Arabia |
| West Asian teams | 3 | United Arab Emirates |
| Total | 8 | |

## Pools composition

The following teams qualified for the tournament.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Sri Lanka (Hosts) | United Arab Emirates |
| Malaysia | Bangladesh |
| Hong Kong (16) | Iraq (13) |
| Saudi Arabia (15) | Mongolia |

## Preliminary round
### Pool standing procedure

* Number of matches won
* Match points
* Sets ratio
* Points ratio
* Result of the last match between the tied teams
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 3.000 | 287 | 240 | 1.196 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Sri Lanka (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2.333 | 236 | 211 | 1.118 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Malaysia | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0.667 | 211 | 234 | 0.902 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Hong Kong | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0.111 | 203 | 252 | 0.806 | Quarterfinals |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Bangladesh | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2.000 | 267 | 251 | 1.064 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Iraq | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 1.600 | 281 | 259 | 1.085 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1.000 | 269 | 272 | 0.989 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Mongolia | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0.222 | 239 | 274 | 0.872 | Quarterfinals |

## Final round
### Final eight

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | | | |
| Saudi Arabia | 3 | | | |
| Saudi Arabia | 3 | 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo | | |
| Mongolia | 0 | 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo | |
| Mongolia | 0 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | | Saudi Arabia | 3 | |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | Bangladesh | 1 | |
| Hong Kong | 0 | Bangladesh | 1 | |
| Hong Kong | 0 | | | | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| Bangladesh | 3 | | | | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| Bangladesh | 3 | | | | Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | | | | | Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | | | | Iraq | 3 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | | | | Iraq | 3 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo | | | |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo | | | |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | Sri Lanka | 1 | | | |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | | Sri Lanka | 1 | | | |
| 19 September – Colombo | 19 September – Colombo | Iraq | 3 | | 3rd place match | 3rd place match |
| Malaysia | 1 | Iraq | 3 | | 3rd place match | 3rd place match |
| Malaysia | 1 | | | | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| Iraq | 3 | | | | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| Iraq | 3 | | | | Bangladesh | 0 |
| | | | | | Sri Lanka | 3 |
| 5th–8th semifinals | 5th–8th semifinals | 5th place match | 5th place match |
| 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo |
| Mongolia | 2 |
| Mongolia | 2 | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| Hong Kong | 3 | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| Hong Kong | 3 | Hong Kong | 2 |
| 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo | | Hong Kong | 2 |
| 20 September – Colombo | 20 September – Colombo | United Arab Emirates | 3 |
| United Arab Emirates | 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 |
| Malaysia | 1 | | |
| Malaysia | 1 | 7th place match | 7th place match |
| | | 21 September – Colombo | 21 September – Colombo |
| | | Mongolia | 0 |
| | | Malaysia | 3 |

#### Final
## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | Iraq |
| | Saudi Arabia |
| | Sri Lanka |
| 4 | Bangladesh |
| 5 | United Arab Emirates |
| 6 | Hong Kong |
| 7 | Malaysia |
| 8 | Mongolia |
* 2018 Asian Challenge Cup champions
* Iraq First title
* 14–man roster
* Safaa Lafta Majeed (c), Hussain Nameer Shamil, Husam Abdulsamad, Mustafa Ghani Hussain, Mustafa Hameed Jabbar, Abbas Abdulkareem, Murtadha Zuhair Mohammed, Islam Sachit Challab, Aymen Ali Muslim, Falih Mohammed Saleh, Ali Lafta Majeed, Riyadh Azeez Mohammed, Ali Sahib Abushanan, Osama Munef Sabbar
* Head coach
* ALAA KHALAF A.