Bahrain bow to Argentina

Bahrain put up a spirited fight against Argentina in a 1-3 (22-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-25) loss yesterday night in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship 2019 at Shaikh Isa Sports City in Riffa. The result was their second straight setback in Pool F of the tournament’s second round, and it officially eliminated the hosts from further contention for a berth in the semi-finals. The Argentinians, on the other hand, kept their bid alive and must win their last game today against Italy to have any chance of advancing.

The Italians, along with Brazil, have virtually secured their places in the last four after claiming their second wins yesterday in this ongoing stage. Italy took down Asian champions Iran in the other Pool F encounter in a thrilling match that lasted over two hours, while Brazil claimed a well-deserved win over previously unbeaten Russia in Pool E. in the same group, China beat Korea in straight sets, setting up a do-or-die match-up with the Russians today for a berth in the final four. The second round of the tournament concludes today and there is still plenty to play for for all teams.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday. In Bahrain’s loss, the home side managed to extend the match after losing the first two sets. Their rivals were too good in the end, however, and they managed to stay in the race for a semi-final place. Argentina had the advantage in all categories in the match, including in attack (46-44), block (9-5) and serve (7-6), while also being gifted 32 points on Bahrain’s errors. Franco Medina was the top individual scorer for the Argentinians with 15 points, while Nicolas Zerba chipped in with 12.

Bahrain captain Mahmood Abdulhusain led his team with 14 points, while Sayed Mohamed Alabbar added 13. In Italy’s win, the Iranians were on the brink of forcing the tie-breaker late in the fourth set, but the Italians showed their mettle and fought back to eventually close things out for a hardearned 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 31-29) triumph. Daniele Lavia was in fine form, scoring 24 points to lead the winners. Kristian Gamba added another 16 for Italy. For Iran, Porya Yali was the top man with 20 while skipper Amirhossein Esfandiar added 17.

Italy head coach Monica Cresta commented: “It was extremely difficult to play against Iran. From the start, we knew that it was going to be tough. In the first two sets, we played well even under pressure. In the third and fourth sets, they played absolutely better than us. “This set that we lost against them means that we have to pay attention. It serves to make us understand that in this phase of the tournament, nothing is easy.”

Meanwhile, Brazil virtually booked their final four tickets with their their second straight win while handing Russia their first loss of the competition in a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22) decision. Victor Aleksander Almeida Cardoso had 25 points to lead Brazil. Angellus Costa Da Silva added 13 in the win. Maksim Sapozhkov paced Russia with 22 points. Brazil coach Giovane Gavio: “We played our best volleyball today. Russia is a strong team.

I am very happy because we were able to play against a big team quite well.” China, meanwhile, bounced back from a loss the previous day with a resounding 3-0 (25-18, 25- 22, 25-20) sweep of Korea in an all-Asian affair. Chengcheng Xiu was the leading scorer for the Chinese with 13, while teammate Dejun Zhai had 12. Korea captain Donghyeok Im paced his spearheaded his team with 10 points. China captain Chen Leiyang said: “The match was really good because we did many things to prepare.

We played well today.” Meanwhile, in the classification groups, Canada and Egypt both needed to go the distance in five-set victories over their opponents, whereas Poland and Cuba both cruised in three-setters against theirs. The Canadians beat the Czech Republic 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 28-26, 15-25, 17-15) while Egypt battled back from a set down to win 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-12) against Puerto Rico.

Both matches were in Pool G. In Pool H, Poland outclassed Tunisia 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25- 20) to secure their place in the bracket for final rankings ninth through 12th, as did Cuba, who won Cuba bt Morocco 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-13) against Morocco.