IT was heartbreaking to say the least as hosts Bahrain played the role of the valiant underdogs to perfection last night battling right until the end before bowing to the US in four thrilling sets in their second match of the World Under-19 Boys Volleyball Championship at Sports City in Riffa.
In front of a vociferous home crowd, the young Bahrainis played their hearts out but failed in a disheartening way – 26-28, 19-25, 25-20, 23-25 – after having won their opening match against Egypt on Friday.
It was an evenly-matched affair all the way with Bahrain a nose ahead all the way in the first set before losing it.
The US youngsters were ahead in the second, to borrow a horse racing term, and despite losing the third to their inspired opponents and hosts, clinched the fourth by the skin of their teeth.
In other matches yesterday, Iran scored a narrow five-set victory over Italy, while Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Turkey and France won their respective matches.
The hero of the night was the gangling Bahraini spiker Hasan Mohamed, who was almost Spiderman-like scoring 24 points for the hosts, and in the process winning the hearts of the hosts and rival fans alike even though it was a losing cause.
The ever-smiling youngster was devastating as he timed his spikes to perfection much to the joy of his home fans, who sang and danced to drum beats amid patriotic fervour.
Joel Schneidmiller was the top scorer for the US with 23 points.
Bahrain head coach Yousef Khalifa was understandably disappointed at the end of the day but not devastated, thanks to his bunch of never-say-die youngsters.
“We lost today but I am very proud of my players,” he said at the post-match briefing. “US are a very strong team. They are always amongst the best-ranked in the world at whatever level of volleyball (they play). I am satisfied but the result was not for us.
“We now look toward our next game against Puerto Rico on Monday (tomorrow). We will work hard to be best prepared for that match.”
US head coach Sam Shweisky was generous in appreciating the home crowd’s wholesome support but praised his players for soaking in the atmosphere and raising their game when it mattered the most.
“We prepared our players the best we could for this game, it took a while to get comfortable and react to such great energy from the crowd,” said Shweisky.
“Once we got more comfortable, we relaxed more and did a really great job.”
Bahrain’s next match is against Puerto Rico at 7pm tomorrow.
In the other Pool ‘A’ fixture, Egypt defeated Puerto Rico 29-27, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17 with Youssef Awad finishing with 19 points while Yousef Elsirgany supported him well with 13.
In Pool ‘B’, France scored their second successive victory beating Cuba 25-19, 25-23, 25-14 with Celestin Cardin and Remi Bassereau doing the bulk of the scoring combining for 31 points.
Brazil earned a hard-fought 22-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-22 victory over defending champions Poland.
Guilherme Dos Santos and Welinton Oppenkoski combined for 31 points for the winners.
Victorious
In Pool ‘C’, Turkey beat Chile 25-14, 25-19, 25-19, while Argentina got past Russia 20-25, 25-13, 25-23, 26-24.
In Pool ‘D’, Iran tamed Italy 25-16, 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12 in another thriller, while the Czech Republic had a much easier time in sailing past Mexico 28-26, 25-16, 25-17.
The top four teams following single round-robin action move to the quarter-finals scheduled for Thursday following a rest day on Wednesday. The quarter-finals are scheduled for Friday, semi-finals the following day and the final on Sunday.
For more information, visit u19.boys.2017.volleyball.fivb.com.