RUSSIA claimed a hugely exciting victory over Iran in Pool ‘C’ last night in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship 2019 last night at Shaikh Isa Sports City in Riffa.
The match was one of the highlights of the second day of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) competition.
The Russians fought back valiantly after twice going down a set. In the decisive fifth, they lost an early lead and then from 12-all onwards, it was a see-saw affair. Things could have gone either way before the Russians finally closed things out for a 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 16-14) result.
Maksim Sapozhkov top scored for Russia with an impressive 34 points. Ivan Kuznetcov added 14 in the win. For Iran, Porya Yali had 30 while Amirhossein Esfandiar had 18.
“It’s a game; when you lose the first or second set, it is nothing; it is normal,” said Russia team captain Konstantin Abaev. “I think Iran are one of the three or four strongest teams in the tournament and I think we will see them again in the semi-final or final. I hope we will play well enough to reach these stages. It will be really good for us and I hope we play better and better.”
The result earned Russia a place in the second round of the competition, while the Iranians must now defeat the Czech Republic today to secure their place in the next stage.
The Czech bounced back from a loss on opening night in a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) sweep of Tunisia in the other Pool ‘C’ encounter yesterday. Marek Sotola had 12 points to pace the Czech side, while Yassine Abdelhedi led Tunisia with 10.
“It looks like an easy match but the truth is different,” said Czech Republic team captain Ondrej Piskacek. “Tunisia played very well on service, especially on float service, so we had problems receiving.
“I also think we started a little bit nervous, but in the end of the sets we played with good defence and blocking. I think that was the key in winning the match.”
Meanwhile, Korea enjoyed a straightforward 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-21) win over Egypt and have assured they advance from Pool B. The Koreans face Argentina today in their final game of this phase. Also in their pool, Cuba, who won last night against the Argentinians, take on Egyptians.
Cuba still have an outside chance to qualify for round two but must win against Egypt and hope Korea beat Argentina.
Korea captain Donghyeok Im had 19 points to pace the winners. Donghyeok later said, “This is just the first stage of the competition. We are happy now and quite satisfied to win, but we still have a lot of matches to play. We will go one step at a time and we can show more of our abilities.”
In Pool D, Brazil cruised past Canada 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-13) to advance to the second round. They were led by the 14 points of Victor Aleksander Almeida Cardoso.
Brazil captain Rhendrick Resley Rosa commented, “We came to play this match in a very decisive manner. We came in for the kill. We didn’t really start in the best situations but towards the third set, we had it all figured out and we played a lot better.”