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DOHA RABITA BAKU gained a sweet revenge, the Azerbaijan team crushed VakifBank Telekom of Turkey in straight sets to win the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship for the first time at the Women’s Indoor Hall, on Friday.

Opposite hitter Natasa Osmokrovic led the winner, collecting 16 points and her captain Natalya Mammadova, who plays as both wing spiker and opposite, accounted for 12 points.

For the Turkey team, which had beaten Rabita 3-0 in the final of the CEV Champions League final in March this year, had Bahar Toksoy and Malgorata Ginka as the best scorers with 10 each.

The champions took home a purse of $200,000.

VakifBank collected $140,000 for the runner-up effort Earlier in the bronze medal match, Sollys Nestle Osasco (Brazil), the runner-up of the 2010 edition, took only one hour and four minutes to rout Mirador of Dominican Republic by 25-9 25-13 25-8.

Rabita did not drop a single set before the final and continued its impressive showing even in the final, though it was not expected at all.

Right from the start, Rabita began piling the pressure on the rivals and despite playing the fourth match in as many days, the Azerbaijan side did not show any signs of being rugged or jaded.

In the block and service, there was not much to choose between the two but the major factors for Rabita were that it was more productive in the attacks and committed much fewer mistakes than its opponents.

Rabita enjoyed 44-31 advantage in the smashes and made only four errors to 23, which easily swung the pendulum towards the Azerbaijan outfit, coached by Zoran Cajic.

Rabita captain Mammadova was delighted with the end result but criticised the schedule for playing four matches in four days.

“We’re very happy that we have won this prestigious championship. We prepared ourselves very well for this match. Tactically we played good, we served very well and were stronger in the defence and reception.

“It was very difficult to play four matches in a row, and we hope the committee will take this in consideration for next year’s championship,” added Mammadova, one of the tallest players in her team at 195 cms.

Rabita coach Cajic also had a dig at the Turkish team: “I was not too pleased about playing four matches in four days, especially because the Turkish team had more time to rest. I was afraid it would benefit from it, but it seemed like they were more tired than us. My team played exactly the way I wanted it to play.

This victory is not only good for us, but for the whole country.

Our President will be very happy, I hope.” VatifBank captain Sonsirma was clueless about the onesided result: “What can I say? We didn’t do anything right today and I feel so bad about this result. I don’t know what happened to us. Maybe we were too tired.

She tried to explain about the abject surrender: “Our team has seven players who also play for the national team and returned just days before the start of this competition from the European Championship. We would like to congratulate Rabita Baku on winning the gold medal.

They played a perfect match.” VatifBank coach Giovanni Guidetti said his team was not prepared for this championship and Rabita is a very organised team, making difficult for us to get points: “We could only train together once before the start of this competition.

We weren’t prepared.

We weren’t ready yet. The first matches we played against some weaker teams.

Today we played against an organised team, which was just too difficult for us. We have some work to do before we come back next year to show everybody what we are really capable of.” Osasco wins bronze medal Osasco vented out its all fury for missing the final against Mirador of Dominican Republic, hammering the rival in three easy sets.

Ivna Marra led the attack and collected 13 points while guiding her team to third place and a cheaque of $90,000.

The Dominican Republic side, for whom Elizabeth Martinez (5) was the best scorer, earned $60,000 for the fourth-place finish.