Italy, Brazil, Russia advance into semis

Powerhouses Italy, Brazil, Russia and Iran made for a sensational semi-final line-up yesterday night as the second round of action came to a close in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship 2019 at Shaikh Isa Sports City in Riffa. The Iranians booked their berth after defeating hosts Bahrain in three sets (18-25, 14-25, 18-25). The Bahrainis tried valiantly to upset their heavily favoured rivals, but in the end went down fighting against the champions of Asia.

With the result, the home team ended their campaign in this stage of the competition with three losses in Pool F. They still have a chance, however, to finish as high as fifth. Their final classification games will be held on Friday and Saturday at the same venue. The Iranians marched on to the final four. They were vying for their spot with Argentina, who lost to a rampant Italy in Wednesday’s other Pool F fixture.

The Italians claimed their place atop the group with their third successive win of the second round, as they are now the only unbeaten team remaining in the entire tournament. In Pool E, Brazil secured first place with a convincing sweep of Korea. Russia, meanwhile, defeated China to claim the other berth in the last four from their group, also with a three-set victory. In the semi-finals, which are scheduled for Friday, Italy face Russia while Brazil take on Iran. All are welcome to attend. Entrance is free of charge. Thursday is a rest day in the championship. Bahrain faced an overwhelming task on Wednesday against their continental rivals.

Iran had a better showing in all of the game’s major categories, including attack (36-25), block (14-5) and serve (4-2). The Iranians were also gifted 21 points from Bahrain’s errors, while the hosts took 18 points from their opponents. Hasan Mohamed was Bahrain’s leading individual scorer with nine points, while Hasan Haider added seven and Sayed Mohamed Alabbar six. Porya Yali had 15 for Iran, while Morteza Sharifi contributed 14. “Iran had much respect for us by using their starting six players and they also want to finish the match in a short time,” said Bahrain head coach Yusuf Khalifa. “Iran is a very strong team. “We started by just playing point by point.

We made some errors especially with strong pressure from their serves. But Iran is a team that knows very well when to start their runs.” Bahrain now take on China in their first match in the group playing for fifth to eighth. The winner of their clash will take on the victor between Argentina and Korea for fifth place overall. In Italy’s big 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-19) win over Argentina, they were in a class above their rivals, outscoring the South American 41-27 in attack, 9-2 in block and 7-0 in serve. Lorenzo Cortesia and Francesco Recine both had nine goals to spearhead Italy in the win. Luciano Palonsky had eight points Argentina’s top scorer in defeat.

Italy head coach Monica Cresta said after their win: “We are very happy. We came from the European championship where we have done well, and we wanted to take a little bit more risk. We came with a lot of determination in this championship. Now, we want to focus on our match against Russia, which will be very difficult. Russia won against China 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-17) in a match that was to decide which of the two nations would be moving on from Pool E. The Russians made sure that there would no longer be any doubts.

Maksim Sapozhkov scored 16 points to lead their team, who enjoyed a 37-31 advantage on attack. Russia also won 6-3 on block and 7-2 on serve. Chengcheng Xiu was the leading scorer for the Chinese with 16. Also in Pool E, Brazil completed their clean sweep of this round with a convincing 3-0 (25- 19, 25-13, 25-19) triumph over Korea. The Brazilians were dominant, outscoring their opponents 41-26 on attack, 17-4 on blocks and 5-3 on serve. Wellinton Oppenkoski led the winners with 16 points, while Marcus Vinicius Evangelista Coelho added 11. Jihan Kim had eight points to pace Korea, while Hanyong Joung and Woojin Kim contributed seven apiece.

With the Pool E results, China and Korea now play in the group for fifth through eighth place alongside Bahrain and Argentina. Meanwhile, in the lower classification groups, Canada survived a scare and went through to play for ninth to 12th places despite losing to Egypt 1-3 (24- 26, 21-25, 28-26, 25-23). Both teams finished with the same points on the final standings in Pool G as well as with the same sets ratio, but the Canadians had a superior points ratio, which broke the tie. The Czech Republic advanced as pool winners after beating Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-13, 25-18, 20- 25, 28-26).

In Pool H, Tunisia beat Morocco in a heated battle between two of Africa’s top teams, both of whom headed into the contest in search of their first victory in the world championship. The match, dubbed by players as the “El Clasico of Arab volleyball”, lasted over two hours and went the distance. Morocco had a slim lead towards the end but Tunisia managed to overcome the hurdle and win 3-2 (19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 16-14).